UPDATED: Watershed Watch, SkeenaWild, and Raincoast call on Fisheries Minister to address outrageous discards of north coast chum salmon
Scientists from Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and SkeenaWild Conservation Trust are calling on Fisheries Minister to address outrageous discards of north coast chum salmon after 1.37 million pounds of chum salmon have been discarded during this year’s fisheries targeting north coast pink salmon. A large portion of these fish are from depleted stocks and many will not survive to spawn.
The pink salmon fishery was recently certified as “sustainable” by the Marine Stewardship Council, a designation that should not be allowed to stand if current fishing practices persist.
For full details and a backgrounder on the issue, see the media release BC conservationists blast federal government for irresponsible salmon fisheries.
The Globe and Mail article Rushed fishermen throwing dead chum salmon overboard, groups charge also discusses this issue. Watershed Watch Ecologist, Aaron Hill, states “They need to slow this fishery down so [fishermen] are not in this race to catch fish and they can have the time to sort the fish carefully and return them to the water with the least possible harm.”
For more information, see the following news stories:
- NGOs upset over chum salmon discards, Seafood Source, August 17, 2011
- Conservationists point finger at DFO over thrown back Chum Salmon, Northern View, August 17, 2011
- CFAX 1070 Interview with Watershed Watch Ecologist, Aaron Hill, August 17, 2011
- Fishermen taking too long to throw chum salmon back into water, Global News, August 18, 2011
- CFAX 1070 Interview with Raincoast Biologist, Misty MacDuffee, August 18, 2011
- BC conservationists blast government, World Fishing, August 18, 2011
- War of Words Over Chum Fishery, Kitimat Sentinel, August 25, 2011
