The management approach for the Northern cod stewardship fishery for NAFO Divisions 2J3KL was recently announced by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
As in past years, the catch phrase for this fishery once again appears to be cautious optimism, as DFO unveiled a total commercial quota of 12,350 tonnes, a 30 per cent increase relative to 2018.
While harvesters on the eastern shores of Newfoundland await the detailed conservation and harvesting plan for this year’s Northern cod fishery, they already know that to participate, they have to abide by a long list of rules already set down by DFO. Management measures previously in place for this fishery will continue, including:
- Gear restrictions and gear limits
- Small fish protocol
- Monitoring of landings
- Logbook completion
- No buddy-up
- Medical designations only
- Harvesters will not be restricted to fishing in the bay of their homeport
- Harvesters will be able to fish outside the 12-mile limit
- Fall fishery option
So, as commercial fishermen prepare themselves once again for DFO’s strict conversation measures for this fishery — and given the past history of the stock, they should be strict — another fishery is now underway that abides by a slightly different set of rules.
In fact, some might argue that this groundfish fishery has few or no rules at all. We are of course talking about the 2019 Newfoundland and Labrador recreational groundfish fishery.
On May 17, DFO advised that in 2019, the recreational groundfish fishery will be open for a total of 39 days. And like last year, despite pleas from industry and a series of public consultations a year or so ago, for the 2019 season, there is no requirement for licences or tags. In other words, there is no real way again to police or monitor this fishery.
Recreational fishers are limited to five groundfish per day (including cod). However, the maximum boat limit when three or more people are fishing is 15 groundfish. But other than the honour system, DFO has no idea who is catching what, where and how much.
The majority of stakeholders and industry insiders are in agreement that groundfish stocks off Newfoundland, for the most part, are heading in the right direction — hopefully in a direction that will see a return to a controlled, yet viable, commercial fishery.
According to scientific stock assessments, conducted over the last few years by both federal and provincial government scientists, the cod numbers have improved and despite a few bumps, continue to move upward. But as any scientist will tell you, the more data collected, the better.
As the industry inches ever closer to a return to a full-fledged commercial cod fishery, it is more important than ever for science to have the most accurate stock assessment data available. For this fishery to grow and attract international buyers, it is going to have to be labelled as sustainable by an organization such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). However, a sustainable label will be a long time coming as long as there is a blank space next to the total of fish caught during the N.L. recreational fishery.
However, on July 2, DFO did send out a somewhat surprising and unexpected public notice, entitled Recreational Groundfish Fishery Catch Reporting for the Newfoundland and Labrador Region.
It stated that “recreational fishers are encouraged to report their groundfish catch, including fish size, to Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) science by completing the form which is available online at the following website: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/recreational-recreative/nfl-rec-eng.asp. The harvest data collected will provide DFO science with valuable information about size and abundance of groundfish removals. This information will be used to inform the department’s groundfish science group about the total recreational harvest. The department appreciates the public’s support in providing this data.”
As part of the status quo recreational fishery rules announced back in May, there was no indication a voluntary reporting component would be forthcoming. DFO should at least be partially commended for at least making the attempt to collect some data from this fishery. However, it does not take a scholarly statistician to predict that very, very few weekend warriors will be measuring their fish before tossing them on the splitting table and even fewer will be taking the time to log on to their computers or smartphones with their data. Although they still might post a photo or two of a big fish they are proud of on Facebook.
I guess a little data is better than none, but DFO must realize this voluntary request will garner little information. A program like this will only work if it is mandated as part of the fishery — and even then the data would be seriously skewed by those that have no problem with the daily 15-fish boat limit, but seem to think it is their right to make multiple trips every day, taking out all of their buddies from the harbour.
Nice try, but DFO needs to formulate a better and more accurate way to track cod taken during recreational fishery.
This assessment gap has to be addressed before any reasonable commercial fishery can be entertained. Many commercial fishermen will tell you that many impacts to cod stocks need to be brought to light before quotas can or should be increased to a greater extent.
The glaring question mark of how many tonnes of fish end up in basement freezers each year should never be a deterrent to a return to commercial fishing. A solution has to be found to counting recreational cod, someone just has to have the courage and wherewithal to do it.
