IronNoggin
Well-Known Member
Pacific Fisheries
The B.C. Wildlife Federation has concerns about Pacific fisheries management. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has a long history of conflicts, failure to conserve fish, failure to support the public fishery, and science is often usurped by politics. At the very least, the next federal government must reorganize DFO to focus on the following:- Prioritize conservation of wild fish and properly fund salmon habitat restoration. That means topping up the Watershed Security Fund with $600 million, accelerating Species at Risk assessments, and getting ocean-based salmon farms out of our waters.
- Ensure that Canadians have access to public fisheries. That means using good data and science-based decision making. Restricting recreational fisheries while ignoring an exploding pinniped population that consumes tens of millions of salmon a month is nonsensical. Eventually, we have to address the real problem.
- DFO scientists must be shielded from political interference. Scientific reports are routinely altered to suit a political narrative and our wild fisheries are paying a steep price.
