iPolitics Notebook – Canada
By Michelle Zilio
As Fisheries and Oceans officials prepare to head to Morocco next week for a meeting of the International Committee for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, the department still refuses to say whether it will support a ban on fishing an endangered shark in Canada’s waters.
The department came under fire recently for its refusal to ban harvest of the endangered porbeagle shark, commonly referred to as “Canada’s shark” since a large portion of its North West Atlantic population lives off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Ecology Action Centre, a Halifax-based environmental NGO, asked Fisheries and Oceans Minister Keith Ashfield in a letter Oct. 29 to support a ban on fishing porbeagle sharks at the ICCAT meeting in Morocco from Nov. 12 to 19. The EAC also issued a petition Tuesday calling for a ban; it picked up more than 15,000 signatures in less than four days.
According the EAC, Canada is the only country out of the 48 ICCAT member states to refuse a ban at past meetings, thus preventing the consensus-based organization from moving forward with an Atlantic-wide ban.
The shark is hunted primarily for its meat and, in rarer cases, its fins for shark fin soup. After the porbeagle population virtually disappeared in the northeast Atlantic due to hunting in the 1960s, hunters began to explore the Canadian population off the coast of Nova Scotia in the 1990s. As of result of the Canadian hunt, the Centre said Canada’s porbeagle population has declined by 89 per cent since 1961.
More than a week after iPolitics’ original story, the DFO responded to questions on the porbeagle shark. In an email Friday, the department refused to comment on a ban: “In order to protect the integrity of next week’s international meeting, it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
However, the DFO provided some more detail behind its position in a separate email Thursday:
“Canada’s management approach for the western porbeagle shark population supports rebuilding of the stock while also supporting the livelihood of Canadian fishermen.
Canada’s porbeagle fishery is in line with the latest scientific advice, and its regulations are strictly enforced (e.g. 100% of landings are monitored at the dock). In fact, it is internationally recognized as a model fishery for others to follow.
There are currently 12 exploratory porbeagle shark licenses in Atlantic Canada. We will continue to work with other ICCAT Members to advance practical solutions that effectively protect porbeagle sharks while allowing clearly sustainable fisheries like Canada’s to continue.”
Shannon Arnold, marine coordinator with the EAC, had a few responses to the department’s statement Friday as she prepared to leave for Morocco. The EAC is the only Canadian NGO granted access to the meeting.
First off, she expressed concern over the government’s definition of a recovery rate for the porbeagle — which is forecast to take upwards of a century without a complete ban on fishing the shark.
“Our response is that we, along with many countries, think that while they (DFO) have a management plan in place we just don’t have the same tolerance for risk,” said Arnold. “Yes, they have a plan, but some people wouldn’t call 100 years a recovery timeline.”
While Arnold agreed there are 12 porbeagle shark licenses in Canada, she said only three of them are active, as the depleted porbeagle population has resulted in a dramatically smaller market. She communicates with the porbeagle fishermen regularly.
Arnold said the DFO’s response echoes what she has heard in numerous meetings with department officials over the past few weeks. She said she does not expect the DFO to support a ban and predicts it will try instead to divert attention away from activity in Canada’s waters at the ICCAT meeting.
“They’re going in with guns blazing,” said Arnold.
Arnold said that if DFO officials do not come back from Morocco with the intention to ban fishing on porbeagle sharks in Canada, the Ecology Action Centre will begin appealing to MPs and Fisheries and Oceans critics.
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michellezilio@ipolitics.ca
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