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Rebuilding Fisheries in Canada: Capelin Biomass Falling Yet Fishing Stays Open · How To Protect The Ocean

• 0:00
  Oh my God.
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  Look, how many times we
• 0:04
  have to go through this?
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  When you don't manage
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  fisheries properly, we get a collapse.
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  And if you don't recover properly, you
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  will get prone to another collapse.
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  This is what's happening with capelin on
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  the east coast of Canada.
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  And we're going to talk about today why
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  capelin's population is 16% of its
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  pre-collapsed biomass.
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  That is not good. We're going to talk
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  about the health of cod,
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  which is the major predator of capelin,
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  and how the low biomass affects both
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  capelin and northern cod population.
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  We're going to talk about that on today's
• 0:32
  episode of the how to protect the ocean
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  podcast. Let's start the show.
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  Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another
• 0:38
  exciting episode of the how to protect
• 0:40
  the ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew
• 0:41
  Lewin. And this is the podcast where you
• 0:42
  find out what's happening with the ocean,
• 0:44
  how you can speak up for the ocean, what
• 0:45
  you can do to live for a
• 0:47
  better ocean by taking action.
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  And on today's episode, we're going to be
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  talking about capelin, a small fish that
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  is really driving the population up and
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  down for northern cod. Now, northern cod,
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  as you know, we talked a lot about
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  actually we talked about capelin as well,
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  you know, about a year ago,
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  just in around a year ago.
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  But we talked about both these
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  populations and northern cod very famous
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  for the 1992 collapse in the moratorium
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  on fishing for cod. And there has been a
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  32 year moratorium on this species up
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  until 2024 when DFO, Department of
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  Fisheries and Oceans Canada, actually
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  opened up the fishery for cod, even
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  though not only Oceania, but other
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  organizations were saying, hey, you know
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  what, maybe we should pause on this,
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  especially the in-shore fishery group
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  were saying, hey, we
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  shouldn't open it up to the ocean.
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  The offshore fishery group and they were
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  saying, hey, look, capelin, we're
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  actually gonna open that too, because
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  that's okay to fish, but they're not
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  really doing very well. And we're going
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  to talk about it today because it's
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  something that we have to talk about.
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  The goal of the mission really of
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  Department of Fisheries and Oceans, DFO
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  here in Canada is to protect fisheries,
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  not only for the environment's sake, but
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  also for the sake of the fishing
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  industry. When the 1992 moratorium came
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  in for northern cod, there was uproar on
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  how it was affecting everybody's life.
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  Not only in Newfoundland, but along the
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  east coast of Canada and including down
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  south. This was devastating. It changed
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  the landscape, economic landscape of
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  Newfoundland, which was normally a
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  fishing province. It was known for its
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  fishing communities. Now they had to
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  switch and what they were going to do,
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  whether they had to switch from northern
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  cod to a different species like lobster,
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  crab or shrimp, or they had to get out of
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  the fishing business altogether after
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  generations and generations of fishing.
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  So not only does it affect the
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  environment, but it
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  also affects all the fish.
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  It affects all of the economy that's
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  surrounding it. Now, of course, when you
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  talk about the environmental impact, when
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  fishing for cod was really starting to be
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  known, there was rumors that you could
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  just drop a bucket into the water and you
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  would catch cod, like northern cod,
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  instantly. Obviously, that's not the case
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  anymore. We saw the dip. Politicians
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  ignored the dip. Scientists were telling
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  them, hey, you know what? There's a big
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  loss of northern cod. There's a big loss
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  of haddock. And when you get a loss of
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  big, demersal fish, you get an abundance
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  of small pelagic fish, which they eat.
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  So there's a lot of stuff going on here
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  from an environmental aspect and as well
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  from an economic aspect. So we need to
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  talk about what is happening. Oceana
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  released a press release. I got it right
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  in my email. I'm so glad it is. So thank
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  you, Oceana Canada for doing that.
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  Capeland is at 16% of its pre-collapse
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  biomass and it remains severely depleted.
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  So northern cod is also stagnating in its
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  recovery and cannot rebound without
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  healthy capelin stocks. And now just to
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  talk about what is happening with the
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  population of cod. Cod were
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  essentially recovering in 2017.
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  They were at a big growth. They were, I
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  think they were hovering around 300,000
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  and 600,000 tons and that was in 2017,
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  but have stalled since then. So we're
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  seeing obviously a stall of that
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  population growth, a loss in the
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  population of capelin. And capelin is the
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  big prey species for northern cod.
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  Northern cod are the ones that eat
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  capelin all the time. So that's something
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  that is really important. They're
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  obviously related and their populations
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  are really feeling it. Maybe there was a
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  big jump in population of northern cod. So,
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  you know, obviously in fishing industries
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  like hey, we want to fish more fish. They
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  didn't do it until 2024, but it could
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  have just stagnated because capelin kept
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  going down. Maybe it was because of an
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  increase in the population of northern
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  cod or it could be a lot of other factors
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  like cumulative like climate change could
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  be, you know, ocean pollution. It could
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  be a variety overfishing. It could be a
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  variety of things on the capelin side. So
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  that's something that we have to worry
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  about. Now, capelin showed signs of recovery in 2022 when fishing actually pause, but they resume the process of recovery. So they're going to be doing a lot of research on the
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  fishing in 2023 and 2024 and put it back
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  at risk. It just goes to show that the
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  fishing pressure is what's causing
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  capelin to go down. Now, cod has since
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  stall, as I mentioned, 300 to 600,000
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  tons in 2017, one third of its 1960
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  level. So obviously 1960s is where we
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  really started to pre started to see that
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  decline usually in the 70s. So here are
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  some of the recommendations that Oceania
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  has. So there's a few of them. There's
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  probably about six of them that I'm going
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  to read out. So the first one is pause
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  the commercial fishing of capelin
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  fishery. Right? That's the first thing.
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  So the first thing is pause the commercial fishing of capelin fishery. So
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  that's the first thing to do. The
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  population is going to be built when the
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  protections are in place. Number two,
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  reduce northern cod quota to support long
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  term recovery. Number three, establish
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  healthy thresholds and biomass targets
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  aligned with the fisheries act. This
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  fisheries act is a great act. It just got
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  redone right before 2019. And it's about
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  time and we strengthened it. But now we
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  got to use it. We got to actually
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  establish those healthy thresholds and
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  align themselves with the fisheries act
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  as well as biomass targets. Now biomass
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  is the weight, of course, right?
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  Abundance is the weight.
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  Abundance is the number of individuals
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  and number four, set annual harvest rules
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  for predictable rebuilding focused
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  fishing. That's the key. Number five, add
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  capelin to the stock provisions of the
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  fisheries act. This is to make sure that
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  they are measured and they are tracked
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  all the way through so that we can see if
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  their population goes up or down on an
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  annual basis. And then number six,
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  implement modern monitoring protocols per
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  DFOs Department of Fisheries and Oceans
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  Canada fishery monitoring policy. So all
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  these go into place to make sure that they are measured.
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  And then number seven, make sure that
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  these stocks are healthy. We've had
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  Jessica Shins from Oceana Canada on
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  before we talked about their annual
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  report just last year that was done in
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  2024 and done every year. And it talks
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  about how a lot of these fish don't have
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  monitoring plans. A lot of these fish
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  don't have these rebuilding protocols.
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  That's gut wrenching, especially with the
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  fact that they're lowering in the number
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  in population. And that's something that
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  we can have. So here's a thing without
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  these monitoring programs,
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  without these provisions,
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  they're not tracking it after this
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  collapse. So you got to make sure to
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  monitor the species so that we can find
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  out as a recovery. Maybe this had to do
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  with a lot of the recovery of cod and not
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  doing so well in his
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  recovery because you would
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  think if you had a moratorium on fishing
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  in 1992, you would expect that there'd be
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  a huge recovery, but that's not so. So
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  something else is going on there. Maybe
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  it's the prey species. The population has
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  gone up and down since then. And they
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  don't have the proper benchmarks for it.
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  And also recent quotas, especially in
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  2024 when there was a 38.5% rise for cod
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  fishing do not align with scientific and
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  recovery needs. It's not lining up. This
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  is the frustrating part. DFO says all
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  their decisions are based on science.
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  This is not true. This is not based on
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  science because the science is saying
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  different. And this is what happened in
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  the 1992 moratorium, like the collapse of
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  the codfish, the northern cod fishery. We
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  keep seeing this. Last concern and
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  challenges is fisheries management risk
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  long term economic failure and ecological
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  damage. So if you're not doing it
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  properly, you're going to have a problem.
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  Rebuilding these stocks, the capelin and
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  the cod stocks is essential for ocean
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  health, tourism and local communities.
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  People come for the northern cod. People
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  come for the capelin.
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  They're very, very important to
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  the east coast. It's entrenched in their
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  culture. It's entrenched in their
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  history. It's something that we need to
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  protect. Northern cod could recover in 11
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  years predicted to do that supporting 16
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  times more jobs and $233 million in
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  economic activity. Think about that.
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  Think about the benefits of doing that
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  and recover population in 11 years.
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  That's what's predicted. If you do it
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  properly, please do it properly. And of
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  course, failing to act now means losing a
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  rare opportunity to restore vibrant
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  fishery and sustainable
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  economy. So that's a big problem. Now, if
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  you probably want to like Andrew, like
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  this is what the science says. What are
• 8:38
  the people say? Now, according to ocean
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  and according to April 2023 survey, 84%
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  of Newfoundland and Labrador residents
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  support a capelin fishery pause. That was
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  in April 2023 survey and 82% believe in
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  the federal government should do more to
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  manage forage fish like capelin and ocean
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  and Canada scientists stress the critical
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  ecological, cultural and economic roles
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  of capelin along the east coast of
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  Canada. Look, it's really simple folks.
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  We need to protect the species. We need
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  to make sure that we're putting the place
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  the management policies that have been
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  put into place by the fisheries act. We
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  just need to actually implement them. We
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  have to use them. That's all we need to
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  do. Just have to follow them. It's really
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  not that difficult, but there's always
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  pressure politically from the fishing
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  industry from outside factors and outside
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  companies. A big companies that are there
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  for the greed. They're there for the
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  money. They don't really care about the
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  cod fishery. They don't really care about
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  the capelin fishery. All they care is
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  about their money. I'm not talking about
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  artisanal fishers. These are the big, big
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  unions, the big companies that just want
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  to fish and they don't believe in the
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  science and I'm not saying this is
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  everybody, right? I don't want to
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  generalize here, but this is the concern
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  what happens and then the minister gives
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  in. They don't follow the science. They
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  have to balance it and I just don't agree
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  with the way they're doing it. They can't
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  just balance all the time. It doesn't
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  work. It does not work and shows just the
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  numbers that I've provided here today. So
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  that's something of concern. I want to
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  bring it to your
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  attention. I've covered this piece.
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  It's not really the science of these 2
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  fish, the relationship between these 2
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  fish for a number of years now and I
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  haven't seen anything getting better. In
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  fact, I'm seeing it getting worse. And so
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  that's a concern. We want to see what
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  would happen if we open up the fishery.
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  This is what's happening. We're seeing
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  lowered stocks. 16% of pre collapse level
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  for capelin. Not a very good sign. And of
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  course, the population of Northern Cod
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  stalling since 2017 growth. So not good.
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  I'd love to hear your thought about this.
• 10:27
  If you're watching this on the YouTube
• 10:28
  channel, just hit me up in the comments.
• 10:29
  Let me know what you think. And of
• 10:31
  course, if you wanted to talk to me.
• 10:33
  Directly you can do so by going to speak
• 10:35
  up for blue.com hitting me up on the
• 10:36
  contact page below the form and you can
• 10:38
  contact me directly in my personal email
• 10:40
  or you can go to Instagram at how to
• 10:43
  protect the ocean. That's Instagram at
• 10:44
  how to protect the ocean. I want to thank
• 10:46
  you so much for joining me on today's
• 10:47
  episode of the how to protect the ocean
• 10:49
  podcast. I'm your host Andrew Lewin from
• 10:50
  the true North strong and free. Have a
• 10:53
  great day. We'll talk to you next time
• 10:54
  and happy conservation.