Canada Scores "D" On Fisheries

February 5, 2009

By Sunny Dhillon
The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER - A team of scientists has found Canada is barely complying with a
United Nations code of conduct for managing fisheries, and most other
nations aren't even meeting that meek standard.

A study led by University of B.C. researcher Tony Pitcher says Canada, the
U.S., Norway, Australia, Iceland and Namibia are the only nations that
scored above 60 per cent on a code of conduct compliance rate - the
equivalent of a "D."

The voluntary code was instituted in 1995 by the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture
Organization and provides a consensus for marine resources management.

The countries evaluated in the study, which appears in the journal Nature on
Thursday, are the top 53 fishing nations in the world and account for more
than 95 per cent of the reported catch.

"The overall conclusion is really a bit depressing," Pitcher said. "Even the
countries that score at the top of our range are not doing very well."

The report calls overall compliance of the code "dismal" and says there is a
great deal of improvement to be made even by those nations at the top of the
rankings.

"This is a grave indictment of the performance of the world's fisheries
managers and of the considerable sums spent on projects aiming to assist
with the Code's implementation," the report reads.

"The time has come for a new integrated international legal instrument
covering all aspects of fisheries management."

Norway finished with the highest score, while North Korea was dead last.

Twenty-eight countries, more than half, scored failing grades of less than
40 per cent compliance.

The scientists say some might argue they've even been too generous in their
scoring, since some countries were awarded scores for published legislation
or policy documents that merely express an intention to comply with the
code.

"In Canada for example, government auditors have criticized failure to
implement ocean-management legislation: an ironic twist considering Canada
pioneered drafting the code in the 1990s," the report reads.

A Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesperson was not available for
comment.

Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the U.N. Environment Program, said overfishing
shows nations' failure to address "fundamental links" between ecology and
the daily needs of tens of millions of people.

"It's absolutely clear that one of the great market failures of modern times
is the management of the world's fisheries, and there are examples from
almost every fishery across the globe where the fishing effort exceeds the
available catch," Nuttall said.

Two years ago, a team of ecologists and economists warned in the journal
Science that if current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, almost
all seafood sources could face collapse by 2048.

(With files from the Associated Press)