Loss of eco-certification a blow to fisheries

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/11/2015 (3620 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Monday, a Vancouver eco-certification agency — SeaChoice — declared fisheries on Manitoba’s great lakes among the worst-managed in the world. Their criticisms are largely valid and will have economic consequences as consumers increasingly turn away from non-eco-certified fish.

Manitoba is losing access to global markets for our fish as more and more people, nations and corporations insist on eco-certified product. When the largest fish retailer in North America — Walmart — gets on board, you know the game has changed.

Eco-certification is a response to the mismanagement of fisheries around the world.

Historically, the majority of fisheries overexploited the stock, in many cases to the point of collapse. Overexploitation means the sustainable harvest is below that biologically possible, the real losers being the fishers. One need look no further than the East Coast cod fishery that collapsed a quarter-century ago, causing a thriving industry to disappear. The same is true for Atlantic tuna and billfish, north Pacific salmon and groundfish, and south Pacific sea bass and roughy, to name a few. Eco-certification, properly conducted, is our best guarantee of sustainable fisheries over the long run.

The irony of Monday’s announcement is Manitoba is home to perhaps the best managed freshwater fishery in the world: the Waterhen Lake walleye (pickerel) and northern pike fishery, which was eco-certified by the Marine Stewardship Council in 2014. The council is the gold standard for eco-certification — it involves independent experts conducting an on-the-ground review of the fishery with all stakeholders. SeaChoice by comparison is a second-tier eco-certification agency, relying mainly on published material, borrowing heavily from council standards.

Still, the negative review is bad news whether Manitoba fishers like it or not. Does it matter if a fish is caught in Lake Winnipeg if no one will buy it? And Manitoba’s great lakes do face serious problems.

Walleye stocks in Lake Winnipeg collapsed in the 1960s and the recovery took four decades. Sauger in Lake Manitoba, which at one time supported a thriving fishery, is nearly extinct. The walleye stock in Lake Winnipegosis collapsed decades ago and remains collapsed today.

Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Tom Nevakshonoff made two promises Monday that show either he is unfamiliar with the file — forgivable since he is new to the job, or is playing political games — less forgivable.

He announced a review of Manitoba fisheries by Harold Westdal, who is an excellent choice, being both competent and even-handed. But such a review is unnecessary: it was already conducted by an expert panel and released in 2011. The 179-page report provided a step-by-step plan to fix the problems. They have not been implemented. Had they been, there would have been no media release by SeaChoice.

Nevakshonoff promised to eco-certify Manitoba’s fisheries on our great lakes. This is impossible. The main issue is eco-certification requires stakeholders buy into the process. It is clear neither the Lake Winnipeg fishers nor the Crown corporation that buys the fish, Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation, are onside with this. Without the support of both groups, eco-certification is dead in the water. The minister should know this.

Budgets are tight and eco-certification by the council is expensive. The cost for Lake Winnipeg alone is in the neighbourhood of $250,000, or about half the money that was squandered by Manitoba Conservation on its futile attempt to eliminate zebra mussels from Gimli’s harbour last year.

Because of draconian cuts since 2011, Manitoba fisheries has been reduced to a skeleton staff. The few who remain are competent and dedicated and even managed to eco-certify Waterhen Lake. But there aren’t nearly enough to support a large-scale eco-certification program requiring substantial gathering of data. That task becomes insuperable when those same individuals are seconded to battle zebra mussels.

Our government postures as enlightened environmental stewards.

Premier Greg Selinger and Nevakshonoff were connected at the hip to environmentalist David Suzuki during his recent tour here. Not a photo opportunity was missed. The minister even said the release of the key report on Lake Winnipeg water regulation was delayed because they were too busy with the Suzuki visit.

But actions and budgets speak far louder than words and photo ops. With the fisheries office gutted, government officials are making promises they cannot possibly keep and Manitoba’s fisheries face an uncertain future.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper was criticized for being no friend of science. But our current provincial government is no better and might even be worse.

Say what you will about Harper, he was no hypocrite.

 

Scott Forbes is an ecologist at the University of Winnipeg. He has worked on a salmon boat; conducted post-doctoral research in fisheries, and participated (pro bono) in the eco-certification of the Waterhen Lake Fishery.