The FFAW is calling DFO’s plan to rebuild Atlantic cod stocks “discouraging” and a “major setback” for the development of a sustainable cod fishing sector in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
FFAW President Keith Sullivan says the “tragedy” of the northern cod moratorium can be directly linked to the same approach to fisheries science that neglected the input of fish harvesters.
Sullivan says DFO’s rebuilding plan was developed and launched without any recent consultation with harvesters or the fishing sector in general.
He calls management measures outlined in the plan unnecessarily restrictive and will mean that northern cod will continue to be one of the least harvested cod fisheries in the world.
According to DFO science, while the northern cod biomass saw an increase between 2005 and 2019, it remains at a level well below what it was prior to the cod moratorium of 1992.
The greatest threat to stocks according to the report is a high natural mortality rate. DFO says possible explanations include unreported fisheries removals, predation by harp seals, water temperature, and starvation from lack of prey.