Canada: Newfoundland seafood sector says capelin closure call misguided

Published Mar 31, 2021

Tridge summary

The Newfoundland seafood sector has expressed disagreement with calls for a closure of the capelin fishery, deeming them misguided. The Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) asserts that the fishery is backed by science and that the recent stock assessment indicates the biomass index is near the average, with a possible slight increase. The commercial fishery removals last year were a small fraction of the total removals by other sources. The ASP also points out that the harvest does not significantly affect the availability of food for other species. The organization is in favor of more science in the issue and believes that the fishing industry has a vested interest in the sustainability of the capelin species.

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Original content

Newfoundland seafood sector says capelin closure call misguided. The Association of Seafood Producers (ASP) in Newfoundland, Canada, says the capelin fishery is supported by existing science, making calls for a closure of the commercial fishery hasty and misguided. DFO’s most recent stock assessment for capelin in 2J3KL indicates that the biomass index this year is near the long-term average — granted, at low levels — and likely to be similar to that of 2020, with the potential of a small increase. ASP says the fishery has taken place at lower levels, like 2010, and the stock rebounded from then. “That alone, we believe, supports a fishery. We are likely at the same level as last year according to DFO science and there is a 30+% chance, again, according to science, that we will be above it,” says Derek Butler, Executive Director of ASP. “Calls for a moratorium assumes removals from the fishery can have an impact on the resource trajectory, but that does not appear evident at ...

Source: Fish Focus