[LINK] "Fisheries' outlook bleak in Eastern Canada: report"

[rfmcdonald]

This news is hardly a surprise.

Steps taken to curb overfishing are finally showing signs of success in many of the world's fisheries, according to a report released Thursday, but the news isn't so good in Eastern Canada, where there have been "dramatic stock collapses."

The assessment report, conducted by an international team of fishery scientists, suggests that five of the 10 large marine ecosystems examined are showing improvement. None is in Canada.

Recovery rates in Eastern Canada are slow or non-existent, said Boris Worm of Halifax's Dalhousie University, a co-author of the report.

"We're losing entire species," Worm said. "Many are either no longer economically or ecologically viable. We're running the risk of destabilizing the entire ecosystem."

Two-thirds of traditional fish resources in the Gulf of St. Lawrence have collapsed; meaning the abundance has decreased 90 per cent from its un-fished state.

How are Atlantic Canadian fishers responding? Guess.

Only Alaska and New Zealand had not been subject to excessive fishing pressure and had never declined below-target levels.

Five of the other eight ecosystems had been overfished in the past, but the fraction harvested had since declined into the target range.

"This means we now find that seven of the 10 systems are being fished responsibly," Hilborn said. "And for five of them, this represents an improvement."

As for Canada, Worm said, fishers have to be more cautious.

"Refrain from fishing potentially endangered species," he said. "We have to assess situations before removing fish."