Canada’s Commercial Fishery

Canada’s Commercial Fishing Industry:

• In 2009, over 1 million tonnes of commercial fish was harvested, valued at about $2 billion

Types and Locations of FishCategory Description Examples

GroundfishEat and Caught near ocean floor

Cod, Pollock, haddock, halibut, redfish

Pelagic Fish

Eat and Caught near the surface.

Salmon, herring, mackerel, tuna

Shellfish Molluscs and crustaceans.

Shrimp, lobster, oyster, scallop, mussels

East Coast Fishery• Species include:

– Cod, Haddock, Lobster• Cod overfished, moratorium

in 1992 banned Cod fishing• Grand Banks: used to be

one of world’s richest fishing grounds

Mixing of currents stirs up nutrients

Shallow water lets sunlight reach bottom allowing phytoplankton

(sm. Plant life) to grow

Why?

West Coast Fishery• Species includes:• Salmon, tuna, shellfish

• Salmon overfished. Number of salmon caught declining.

Freshwater Fishery• Includes Great Lakes,

Lake Winnipeg, and Great Slave Lake.

• About 13 species of fish being harvested commercially including:– Lake trout–northern pike–Pickerel

Commercial Fishing Issue:

Overfishing• Simply means catching

too many fish• Bycatch is when nets

accidently catch small fish or other marine species

• The bycatch is simply thrown overboard

Bycatch is often 80 per cent of the stock

Commercial Fishing Solutions:

• MORATORIUM – when government puts a freeze on fishing (bans all fishing)

• QUOTAS – when government reduces the amount of fish being caught

Helpful Vocabulary

• Moratorium – a ban on all fishing. This is decided by the government.

• Fish stocks – the population of fish• DFO – The Department of Fisheries and

Oceans, Federal Government.• Quota – the amount of fish allowed to be

caught by the fishing industry, set by the DFO