Canada’s Bluefin Tuna Fishery: Management Measures

Transcript | Windows Media (11Mb)

---

Narrator: Canada has strong management measures in place to ensure the sustainability of the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery.

Faith Scattolon, Regional Director General, Maritimes Region, Fisheries and Oceans Canada: The bluefin tuna fishery in Atlantic Canada is managed through an integrated fisheries management plan which basically captures all of those types of measures that one would have in place for a fishery.

Narrator: There are four main management measures. First, licence control.

Faith Scattolon: It is a limited entry fishery, which means there is a limited number of licenses, so the number of licenses is fixed and its been fixed for many, many years and there are no new entrants to the fishery.

Narrator: Second, there is a carefully controlled fleet allocation system. The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas allocates quota to its members. Canada, to ensure precision and control of its share, divides it mainly on the basis of vessel or fleet quotas.

Narrator: Third, we are known around the world for our tagging system, the first of its kind internationally.

Faith Scattolon: We control the tags, all the tags are individually numbered, the fishermen must come in and pay for the tags. They’re entered into a computer tracking system so at any given moment, we know which tags have been issued; who has the tags, which individual number they have, and then once the fish comes into port and it’s been caught and it has a tag affixed to it, we’re able to track that fish and that tag from the time it leaves on a truck ‘til it ends up in the marketplace wherever that might be.

Narrator: Fourth, each bluefin tuna landed in Canadian waters is verified by an independent dockside monitor who records the number of fish caught, their weight, tag number and other vital statistics. All this information is entered into a database accessible in real-time to fisheries managers, scientists and enforcement officers.

Faith Scattalon:We have measures in place that control the quantity of fish; we control the size of the fish; we’re able to track all the bluefin tuna that’s harvested in this country. We know precisely what’s harvested – and we take our management measures and base them on solid scientific advice.

- END CREDITS -

Thank you to Canada’s bluefin tuna harvesters for playing their role in this sustainable fishery.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2008.