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Pacific herring and fisheries management in Canada: A new era or repeated history?
Ocean & Coastal Management 125 (2016) 47e48
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman
Pacific herring and fisheries management in Canada: A new era or repeated history?
Once subject to the world's largest commercial cod fishery, Canada's Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks collapsed spectacularly in the late 20th century, primarily due to overfishing. Following the 1992 cod fisheries moratorium, evidence accumulated that bureaucratic and political interference had compromised the science and management of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (‘DFO’(Hutchings et al., 1997)); the federal agency that has primary responsibility for fisheries management in Canada and is overseen by a Minister, hereafter the ‘Fisheries Minister’. Although cod fisheries closures remained widespread, certain fisheries were subsequently re-opened multiple times at the Fisheries Minister's discretion without a long-term, sciencebased management plan. Whereas recent research into the dynamics of Atlantic cod offer hope for the future (e.g., Frank et al., 2011; Rose and Rowe, 2015), cod populations remain depressed and the socio-ecological systems of the region have been fundamentally altered. During the previous Conservative federal government's term (2006e2015), this now textbook-famous history of failed fisheries management was in danger of repeating itself. Pacific herring (Clu et al., pea pallasii), a key forage fish and foundation species (Soule 2003) in many coastal ecosystems, is of profound importance to Indigenous peoples and once supported highly lucrative commercial fisheries on Canada's Pacific coast and beyond. In 2014 and 2015, the Fisheries Minister opened commercial ‘roe herring’ fisheries on all five major stocks, including three that had been subject to long-standing closures due to low adult herring abundances. For the 2014 season, the decision to open the three areas was an example of a Fisheries Minister wielding her discretionary powers against the science-based recommendations of her own department, which recommended closure (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2013). Further, the Fisheries Minister's decisions in both years were made over the explicit objections of multiple First Nations. Avenues taken by First Nations to confront the Fisheries Minister's decisions over the herring fisheries openings included legal challenges, negotiations with industry, and protests, among others. Primary concerns identified included insufficient herring population recovery to support commercial harvest, flawed and/or uncertain population model forecasts, an outdated management framework, and a failure to consult, negotiate, and accommodate Aboriginal Rights and Title (6, 7, and others). Of three legal challenges, two halted commercial fisheries on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2016.03.004 0964-5691/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
the grounds that the Fisheries Minister's decision posed potential irreparable harm and was not science-based, conflicted with First Nations' rights, acted against public interest, and/or undermined the integrity of DFO (Mandamin, 2014; Manson, 2015). The new Liberal federal government has committed to protecting Canada's oceans, improving fisheries co-management, and working effectively with First Nations. In 2016, DFO proposed a reduced commercial herring harvest for one area (British Columbia's Central Coast) and closures in the two other previously contested areas, with the remaining two areas subject to openings as in previous years (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2015). This proposal was subject to input and consideration by First Nations, an integrated planning committee, and later, public input. Importantly, although not yet implemented, a renewal of the outdated herring management framework is also underway. In reviewing herring fisheries management under the former Conservative federal government, stark cautions exist with respect to fisheries management, now and into the future. Key among them, discretionary powers of the Fisheries Minister do not provide license to disregard science, conservation and management objectives, responsibilities to First Nations and the Canadian public, and the ecosystems upon which we all depend. Further, eroded DFO capacity and loss of skilled scientific staff pose a risk to information-limited species such as Pacific herring. Accordingly, we advocate a precautionary and adequately funded long-term management approach that integrates scientific with traditional and local knowledge, shifts to co-management with First Nations, and relinquishes federal government primacy in decision-making.
References Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2013. Memorandum for the Minister, Re-opening Strategy for Three Major Herring Stock Areas, 2013-502-00354. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2015. Letter to Integrated Herring Harvest Planning Committee Members and Other Interested Parties Regarding 2015/2016 Pacific Herring Harvest Planning. Frank, K.T., Petrie, B., Fisher, J.A., Leggett, W.C., 2011. Transient dynamics of an altered large marine ecosystem. Nature 477 (7362), 86e89. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1038/nature10285. Hutchings, J.A., Walters, C., Haedrich, R.L., 1997. Is scientific inquiry incompatible with government information control? Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 54 (5), 1198e1210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f97-051. Mandamin, L.S., 2014. Federal Court, between the Ahousaht, Ehattesaht, Hesquiaht, muchalaht and Tla-o-qui-aht Indian Bands and Nations Mowachahte
C.H. Fox et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 125 (2016) 47e48 (Applicants) and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (Respondent). Docket T404e14, Citation 2014 FC 197. Manson, M.D., 2015. Federal Court, between the Council of the Haida Nation and Peter Lantin, Suing on Behalf of All Citizens of the Haida Nation (Applicants) and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (Respondent). Docket T-73e15, Citation 2015 FC 290. Rose, G.A., Rowe, S., 2015. Northern cod comeback. Can. J. Fish. Aquatic Sci. 72 (12), 1789e1798. , M.E., Estes, J.A., Berger, J., Del Rio, C.M., 2003. Ecological effectiveness: conSoule servation goals for interactive species. Cons. Bio 17 (5), 1238e1250. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.01599.x.
Caroline H. Fox* Department of Oceanography, 1355 Oxford St., Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada Department of Geography, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada Raincoast Conservation Foundation, PO Box 2429, Sidney, BC, V8L 3Y3, Canada Aerin L. Jacob School of Environmental Studies, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]. Chris T. Darimont
48
Department of Geography, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada Raincoast Conservation Foundation, PO Box 2429, Sidney, BC, V8L 3Y3, Canada Hakai Institute, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, PO Box 309, V0P 1H0, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]. Paul C. Paquet Department of Geography, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada Raincoast Conservation Foundation, PO Box 2429, Sidney, BC, V8L 3Y3, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]. * Corresponding author. Department of Oceanography, 1355 Oxford St., Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada. E-mail address: [email protected] (C.H. Fox). 9 July 2015
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman
Pacific herring and fisheries management in Canada: A new era or repeated history?
Once subject to the world's largest commercial cod fishery, Canada's Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) stocks collapsed spectacularly in the late 20th century, primarily due to overfishing. Following the 1992 cod fisheries moratorium, evidence accumulated that bureaucratic and political interference had compromised the science and management of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (‘DFO’(Hutchings et al., 1997)); the federal agency that has primary responsibility for fisheries management in Canada and is overseen by a Minister, hereafter the ‘Fisheries Minister’. Although cod fisheries closures remained widespread, certain fisheries were subsequently re-opened multiple times at the Fisheries Minister's discretion without a long-term, sciencebased management plan. Whereas recent research into the dynamics of Atlantic cod offer hope for the future (e.g., Frank et al., 2011; Rose and Rowe, 2015), cod populations remain depressed and the socio-ecological systems of the region have been fundamentally altered. During the previous Conservative federal government's term (2006e2015), this now textbook-famous history of failed fisheries management was in danger of repeating itself. Pacific herring (Clu et al., pea pallasii), a key forage fish and foundation species (Soule 2003) in many coastal ecosystems, is of profound importance to Indigenous peoples and once supported highly lucrative commercial fisheries on Canada's Pacific coast and beyond. In 2014 and 2015, the Fisheries Minister opened commercial ‘roe herring’ fisheries on all five major stocks, including three that had been subject to long-standing closures due to low adult herring abundances. For the 2014 season, the decision to open the three areas was an example of a Fisheries Minister wielding her discretionary powers against the science-based recommendations of her own department, which recommended closure (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2013). Further, the Fisheries Minister's decisions in both years were made over the explicit objections of multiple First Nations. Avenues taken by First Nations to confront the Fisheries Minister's decisions over the herring fisheries openings included legal challenges, negotiations with industry, and protests, among others. Primary concerns identified included insufficient herring population recovery to support commercial harvest, flawed and/or uncertain population model forecasts, an outdated management framework, and a failure to consult, negotiate, and accommodate Aboriginal Rights and Title (6, 7, and others). Of three legal challenges, two halted commercial fisheries on http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2016.03.004 0964-5691/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
the grounds that the Fisheries Minister's decision posed potential irreparable harm and was not science-based, conflicted with First Nations' rights, acted against public interest, and/or undermined the integrity of DFO (Mandamin, 2014; Manson, 2015). The new Liberal federal government has committed to protecting Canada's oceans, improving fisheries co-management, and working effectively with First Nations. In 2016, DFO proposed a reduced commercial herring harvest for one area (British Columbia's Central Coast) and closures in the two other previously contested areas, with the remaining two areas subject to openings as in previous years (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2015). This proposal was subject to input and consideration by First Nations, an integrated planning committee, and later, public input. Importantly, although not yet implemented, a renewal of the outdated herring management framework is also underway. In reviewing herring fisheries management under the former Conservative federal government, stark cautions exist with respect to fisheries management, now and into the future. Key among them, discretionary powers of the Fisheries Minister do not provide license to disregard science, conservation and management objectives, responsibilities to First Nations and the Canadian public, and the ecosystems upon which we all depend. Further, eroded DFO capacity and loss of skilled scientific staff pose a risk to information-limited species such as Pacific herring. Accordingly, we advocate a precautionary and adequately funded long-term management approach that integrates scientific with traditional and local knowledge, shifts to co-management with First Nations, and relinquishes federal government primacy in decision-making.
References Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2013. Memorandum for the Minister, Re-opening Strategy for Three Major Herring Stock Areas, 2013-502-00354. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2015. Letter to Integrated Herring Harvest Planning Committee Members and Other Interested Parties Regarding 2015/2016 Pacific Herring Harvest Planning. Frank, K.T., Petrie, B., Fisher, J.A., Leggett, W.C., 2011. Transient dynamics of an altered large marine ecosystem. Nature 477 (7362), 86e89. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1038/nature10285. Hutchings, J.A., Walters, C., Haedrich, R.L., 1997. Is scientific inquiry incompatible with government information control? Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 54 (5), 1198e1210. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/f97-051. Mandamin, L.S., 2014. Federal Court, between the Ahousaht, Ehattesaht, Hesquiaht, muchalaht and Tla-o-qui-aht Indian Bands and Nations Mowachahte
C.H. Fox et al. / Ocean & Coastal Management 125 (2016) 47e48 (Applicants) and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (Respondent). Docket T404e14, Citation 2014 FC 197. Manson, M.D., 2015. Federal Court, between the Council of the Haida Nation and Peter Lantin, Suing on Behalf of All Citizens of the Haida Nation (Applicants) and Minister of Fisheries and Oceans (Respondent). Docket T-73e15, Citation 2015 FC 290. Rose, G.A., Rowe, S., 2015. Northern cod comeback. Can. J. Fish. Aquatic Sci. 72 (12), 1789e1798. , M.E., Estes, J.A., Berger, J., Del Rio, C.M., 2003. Ecological effectiveness: conSoule servation goals for interactive species. Cons. Bio 17 (5), 1238e1250. http:// dx.doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.01599.x.
Caroline H. Fox* Department of Oceanography, 1355 Oxford St., Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada Department of Geography, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada Raincoast Conservation Foundation, PO Box 2429, Sidney, BC, V8L 3Y3, Canada Aerin L. Jacob School of Environmental Studies, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]. Chris T. Darimont
48
Department of Geography, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada Raincoast Conservation Foundation, PO Box 2429, Sidney, BC, V8L 3Y3, Canada Hakai Institute, Heriot Bay, British Columbia, PO Box 309, V0P 1H0, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]. Paul C. Paquet Department of Geography, PO Box 1700, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada Raincoast Conservation Foundation, PO Box 2429, Sidney, BC, V8L 3Y3, Canada E-mail address: [email protected]. * Corresponding author. Department of Oceanography, 1355 Oxford St., Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada. E-mail address: [email protected] (C.H. Fox). 9 July 2015