GPI Atlantic, a Nova Scotia based non-profit research group that is developing new measures of progress for the province. In its report GPI Atlantic assesses fisheries and the marine environment which states that the Nova Scotia fisheries have become weak due to over-fishing that depleted many of its formerly abundant commercial fish stocks, and led to the infamous cod collapse of the 1990s. It has also left the province’s fishing industry vulnerable to the current economic crisis – as is being seen today in the lobster fishery.
The report titled Fisheries and the Marine Environment in Nova Scotia: Searching for Sustainability and Resilience, which highlights key ecological, socioeconomic and institutional aspects that should be monitored by government agencies and considered by decision-makers. It also shows that the fishing industry’s vulnerability to today’s economic crisis can be traced to the overfishing of many species of larger fish off Nova Scotia.
Dr. Tony Charles, a professor at Saint Mary’s University and the report’s lead author, said that fishing down the food chain seemed to work for a while, with species like lobster and crab fetching high prices. Author Chris Burbidge noted that in spite of the current economic crisis in the lobster fishery is not as severe as the collapse of the cod fishery, many fishers and communities are still facing hardship.
