Bob Cain photo
DFO allows herring fishery, despite wide protest
In a move that will certainly the federal government’s own efforts to protect Southern resident Killer Whales in the Salish Sea, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced this week that the March herring fishery would go ahead as planned.
Several groups, including Conservancy Hornby Island, and 42,000 people who signed a petition to stop this year’s herring fishery believe DFO’s action will have negative long-term impacts on chinook salmon stocks. Herring make up 80 percent of chinook salmon’s diet, and chinook comprise roughly 80 percent of Killer Whales’ food source.
Conservancy Hornby Island issued the following statement yesterday, Feb. 4:
Conservancy Hornby Island and the 42,000 and counting people who signed the petition to close down the herring roe fishery in the Strait of Georgia off the west coast of Canada are disappointed with the recent announcement made by DFO regarding the commercial fishery that will happen this March and April.
Conservancy Hornby Island president Grant Scott said, “We were hoping that DFO would listen to the people and seriously restrict this fishery that just doesn’t make sense. The quota set for 2019 is basically the same as last year. The fleet is allowed to take 27,500 tons of herring between the roe, bait and food fisheries.
This represents approximately 200,000,000 herring or the weight equivalent to the largest BC ferry full of cars, trucks and people. While 10 percent of the roe fishery will be consumed directly by people, most of this crucial part of the marine food web will be ground up into fish meal for the fish farm and pet food industries.”
Scott went on to say, “Herring is the cornerstone species for many of the mammals, fish and seabirds who live in or migrate through the Strait of Georgia. Strait of Georgia Orcas and spring salmon are listed by one arm of the federal government as “endangered” while another allows a massive herring fishery when 62% of chinook salmon diet is herring and 80% of Orca diet is chinook salmon. To kill this many
herring in the commercial fishery rather than leaving them to support these other species doesn’t make sense to us.”
DFO says SOG herring are “at or near historic highs” yet there is archaeological evidence and First Nations’ traditional knowledge that historically there was much more herring all around the Strait of Georgia. DFO calculates what it calls “historic high” based on one part of the herring run between Parksville and Comox.
At one time there were huge runs in Vancouver harbour, around the southern gulf islands and all along the Sunshine coast. They are all gone. 4 of the 5 herring spawn areas on the BC coast including Haida Gwaii, Prince Rupert, Central Coast and the west coast of Vancouver Island are shut down because of over fishing Given DFO’s poor track record in sustainably managing herring on our coast it is hard for us to believe the SOG herring around Hornby and Denman won’t eventually go the same way.
Recently we have received a lot of support from the sports fishing and whale watching industries who say that combined they earned approximately $500,000,000 and employed thousands of people full time in 2016, compared to the herring fishery that generated $56,000,00 and fewer than 100 full-time equivalent jobs according to the BC Ministry of Agriculture statistics division that. They say herring are critical for the salmon and whales that are the basis of their businesses and an essential element of “Super Natural BC”, an image we like to sell to the world.
In summary, we think it makes much more sense to leave these fish in the ocean not only for environmental reasons but because it makes good economic sense.
For more information contact: Grant Scott, CHI president, 250-218-2323
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Very misleading article. The value of the roe from this one short commercial fishery is roughly $50,000,000.00 however this does not begin to account for the economic spinoffs, nor the value generated by the other 90% of the fish. In economic terms, there is about a 4x – 7x multiplier when one considers the value of this fishery to the local communities (how many times this money changes hands and taxed upon). Many local industries (welders, fabricators, electricians, technicians, chandlers, and more) exist and provide employment for the sole reason of commercial fishing. This is before we calculate the money spent on consumables, from fuel and gear, food and beverages to restaurants and more.
The number of fishermen may well be in the hundred or so people, but this does not consider the dock workers, longshoremen, truck drivers, office staff and more of the fish plants that are essential to processing this catch, who when aggregated add up to the thousands in BC. AERO Trading Co Ltd alone employs close to 100 individuals for 6+ months of the year for the sole purpose of processing just the herring caught in march during the gulf of Georgia fishery. This is one of several companies that purchase herring.
Without this influx of product, and the revenue therefrom, many fish processors would not be able to maintain a trained competent staff to process other fisheries year round (halibut, salmon, crabs, prawns, tuna, sablefish, rockfish, etc.), which would severely impact their ability to economically process and provide fresh fish to market. This would add to the cost to all parties (from catcher to consumer).
Of the other herring spawning regions, the central coast herring return was massive this past year. Certainly sufficient by any metric to sustain a commercial harvest. The only reason this is not taking place is due to political reasons and native land treaties. This is currently a lost revenue stream for our province and the local communities.
The other 3 regions all have herring spawn returns. They are not gone.
I would like to see the mathematics behind the claim that “sports fishing and whale watching industries who say that combined they earned approximately $500,000,000”. There must be some creative economics going on here. Are we comparing to sports fishing and whale watching in the gulf of Georgia alone? If so, there is no possible way this number could be accurate. If we are looking coastwide, including private lodges on Langara Island and up Knights inlet, the charter fleet out of Prince Rupert and Victoria, we should be comparing it to the billions of dollars that come from the aggregate commercial fisheries, coastwide. In any scenario, it is a crude and misleading number to be thrown in to this article.
One last point. Harvesting lower on the food chain is something that is heavily promoted by ecologists. It is less draining to the ecosystem than harvesting larger species. The concept of trophic levels that justify eating a vegetarian diet as opposed to a carnivore one apply to fisheries as well.
The commercial herring fishery harvests less than 1% of the herring on the coast, by weight. There are individual schools of herring that move through the gulf of Georgia that are alone double the coastwide annual harvest. This fishery can be managed sustainably, and should engender more of a buy-in from local communities.
Whooping Cranes, Passenger Pigeons, Buffalo
Whenever humans decide that a population of wildlife is limitless, it gets exploited to oblivion. We humans have proven that the only thing that stops slaughters is when the wildlife population collapses. Surely we have learned something from our past?! Commercial harvest and exploitation of wildlife has never been sustainable.
Continuing with the commercial herring fishery is like having a hunting season for Whooping Cranes (for their feathers) as there are some small viable populations remaining. “Business as Usual”, is insanity. We must change our perceptions of wildlife to something that is to be treasured rather than something to be exploited.
Shear madness !
Even at the cost of our country’s financial health huge efforts are being made to block pipeline development to protect the
West Coast environment from the dangers of increased tanker traffic, yet we keep pillaging this cornerstone species of the
ecosystem, soon there will be nothing left to protect from threats of increased tanker traffic. When I was a young man I remember when the East Coast Cod fishery was destroyed, it makes me angry that we are doing the same to the West Coast now.
Please add my name to the petition protesting the continuation of the herring roe fishery in the next two months.
My God, How will there be anything left to save if we don’t take immediate action.