Fisheries and Oceans Canada
www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Managing Environmental Impacts
Wild capture fisheries operations affect ocean and freshwater ecosystems. This is true of most natural resource industries. The key is to find the balance that serves the needs of Canadians, while managing environmental impacts.
When managing wild capture fisheries in Canada, DFO considers the effects of the fishery on various components of the ecosystem, including:
- the target fish stock
- other fish species caught incidentally, including species at risk
- the food source for other species (forage species)
- fish habitat
- sensitive or unique bottom habitats and ecosystems, such as seamounts, hot thermal vents, corals and sponges.
Fisheries in Canada are conducted using a variety of fishing gear, including bottom and mid-water trawls, dredges, gillnets, longlines, trollers, hook and line and traps. The nature and extent of the bottom and ecosystem impacts of the fishing gear vary according to the gear-type being used, the extent of its use, and the nature and type of seafloor and ecosystem where it is used. These factors are increasingly being considered when determining where, when and how a fishery is conducted.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are established by DFO to protect and conserve important fish and marine mammal habitats; endangered species; unique features; or areas that are very productive or rich in species diversity. Activities such as fishing are not necessarily prohibited in MPAs, but specific conservation goals are identified for each area. Any activity that would interfere with reaching those goals, including fishing, can be prohibited.
The Government of Canada will continue to work with other governments, industry and groups to develop a National Network of Marine Protected Areas by the end of 2012.
Wild capture fisheries may be open or closed during certain times of the year and in certain locations to prevent harvesters from catching smaller fish – or from incidentally catching other aquatic species that are migrating through the area. Gear modifications have lessened the impacts on other species caught incidentally. For instance, the requirement of a Nordmore Grate has been in place for a number of years in Canada’s shrimp fisheries, thereby effectively eliminating the by-catch of groundfish and other fish species. In British Columbia, a pilot program was put in place in the multi groundfish species fishery, which accounts for every species caught as a target and incidentally, and with sophisticated monitoring tools, including on board cameras, to ensure compliance.
DFO has taken steps to protect sensitive benthic marine habitat and species through modifications to fishing gear, restrictions to fishing in certain areas including through closed areas and marine protected areas.
DFO is continually striving to improve its management of fisheries in Canada. To this end, new policies are in place to help manage the impacts of fishing on the seafloor in a more consistent and systematic way across Canada’s three oceans.
More Information:
- Marine Protected Areas
- Coral Conservation Areas
- Species at Risk *Note: Aquatic species at risk are managed by DFO, in collaboration with Environment Canada, under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada: Policy on Fisheries For Forage Species
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada: Policy for Managing the Impacts of Fishing on Sensitive Benthic Areas
