Study - BC Salmon Runs On Edge Of Collapse, Thanks To Ministry Data Manipulation - G&M

[hatrack]

VANCOUVER -- Salmon stocks in British Columbia are on the brink of collapse largely because the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has consistently allowed too many fish to be killed in commercial and recreational fisheries, according to a new research paper.

The high exploitation of stocks - which draws parallels with the destruction of Atlantic cod by overfishing - may be more to blame for the decline of Pacific salmon than global warming or poor ocean conditions, says the study assessing salmon management practices, published today by the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.

The researchers, from the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the University of California, also conclude that DFO has been managing on the basis of biased data because it has stopped monitoring hundreds of streams with weak runs, choosing to focus on stronger runs only. As a result, managers have a flawed picture that suggests salmon stocks are much healthier than they really are.

The researchers said that based on the monitoring of 137 streams between 2000 and 2005, DFO found 35 per cent of salmon runs in northern B.C. were classified as depressed. But an assessment based on 215 streams that included weak stocks rated 75 per cent of runs as depressed. "The lack of information is troubling," said Misty MacDuffee, one of three biologists on the research team. "The precautionary approach has to be at the forefront of fisheries management ... but not having accurate information will lead to overfishing, as it did with Atlantic cod," she said.

EDIT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081203.BCFISHERY03//TPStory/Environment

[Oregone]

1. You wouldn't know it at Goldstream

That place wafts with a rancid smell of rotting flesh from the salmon carcasses. They are everywhere.

[pscot]

2. How can a man concentrate on dying fish runs

When the name "Misty MacDuffee" is dancing through his imagination?