Policy issues, and challenges in Canadian management of the Atlantic fisheries

Abstract

Despite steady injection of public funds by successive administrations, the Canadian fishery industry is characterized by resource depletion, vessel tie-ups, and overcapacity, which have led to plant closures and rising unemployment. This paper assesses the progress Canadian marine policies have been making towards rational use and conservation of fisheries and promotion of employment and economic development in fishing communities since 1977.The analysis begins with the creation of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and its rationale in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), namely conservation. State subsidies for fleet upgrading, industry modernization, marketing, and the introduction of quota systems, such as the individual transferable quotas (ITQs) and enterprise quotas (EQs), are identified as the key policy initiatives which might realize an economically-viable fishing industry in the post-1977 period. These policies produced corporate expansion and prosperity in the mid-1980s, but there followed corporate losses because of Canadian over-dependence on American markets and sharp quota cuts.With regard to conservation, shortcomings are identified in the virtual population analysis model (VPA), and the inability of the Department of Fisheries to monitor fishing effort by domestic and foreign vessels. The need for radical change in the future direction of marine policies is emphasized and arguments made which support the following objectives: elimination of ecologically-harmful fishing technologies; use of community quotas (with a modified individual quota system); strengthening of community management systems and development of co-management approaches to fisheries management, involving government and fishing communities.

Marine reserve effects on fishery profit

“…It is challenging and costly to enforce fishery regulations (e.g. quotas, Akiba 1997), and the data (e.g. fish stock size) required for calculating optimal regulations are often exceedingly expensive to obtain (Uozumi 2003).…”

Managing global shark fisheries: suggestions for prioritizing management strategies

“…Sri Lanka (Joseph, 1999) and the Maldives (Anderson and Waheed, 1999). Accordingly, many countries (especially developing ones) are often unable to monitor fishing effort by foreign vessels licensed to fish within their EEZs who often land many sharks as bycatch (Akiba, 1997;Nageon de Lestang, 1999). Management of shark harvesting in industrial pelagic fisheries is much more difficult than the management of coastal fisheries, as most sharks are caught as bycatch by offshore longlining vessels (Bonfil, 1994).…”