Atlantic mackerel. (Photo: Stock File)

Mackerel quota increase concerns environmentalist group

CANADA
Wednesday, August 16, 2017, 22:30 (GMT + 9)

The organisation Ecology Action Centre has expressed concern over the increase in he total allowable catch limit for mackerel in the northwest Atlantic region announced by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) due to the fact that the Canadian stock is stil in "the critical zone".

The resource Llndings have been decreasing since 2006, according to the Assessment of the Atlantic Mackerel Stock for the Northwest Atlantic, and reached the lowest point in Canadian history in 2015, CBC News reported.

According to the assessment, DFO believes total catches should still be low enough for the stock to rebound, so the NGO expressed disappointment at the decision taken by the federal authorities.

In Katie Schleit's view, senior marine campaign coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre, the DFO should be to keep catches at an absolute minimum. However, it decided to increase them from 8,000 to 10,000 tonnes.

The environmentalist said the increased quota does not consider the needs of predators like tuna, sharks and whales that rely on Atlantic mackerel.

"We are sacrificing any recovery and putting more pressure on the stock — the quota DFO decided to set didn't consider predators, we aren't considering their needs when setting the quota either," she claimed.

What should happen, Schleit argues, is that DFO put together a rebuilding plan to get the stock above critical levels and "back into a place where we have more confidence in the stock being able to sustain itself."

Meanwhile, according to a spokesperson from the DFO, government has initiated a rebuilding plan for the stock and plans to meet over the coming year to develop a plan for consideration by the Atlantic Mackerel Advisory Committee.

"This will support rebuilding the stock into the healthy zone of the precautionary approach framework," the spokesperson said.

In response to criticism from the Ecology Action Centre, he said the quota increase is to fit a stock that industry says is "significantly larger than the science would indicate" based on last years fishery.

"The established harvest level allows for a greater than 75 per cent chance that the stock biomass will grow over the next two years. This corresponds to a high probability of growth," DFO spokesperson concluded. 

 
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