It is mentioned in the research that salmon stocks in British Columbia are on the brink of collapse largely because the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has consistently allowed too many fish to be killed in commercial and recreational fisheries. It is declared that the high exploitation of stocks – which draws parallels with the destruction of Atlantic cod by overfishing – may be more to blame for the decline of Pacific salmon than global warming or poor ocean conditions.
According to the study assessing salmon management practices the researchers conclude that DFO has been managing on the basis of biased data because it has stopped monitoring hundreds of streams with weak runs, choosing to focus on stronger runs only. The researchers, from the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the University of California, said that based on the monitoring of 137 streams between 2000 and 2005, DFO found 35 percent of salmon runs in northern B.C. were classified as depressed.
Misty MacDuffee, one of three biologists on the research team, opined that the lack of information [fisheries managers have] is troubling. She also said that the precautionary approach has to be at the forefront of fisheries management but not having accurate information will lead to overfishing, as it did with Atlantic cod.
It is told that cutting catch rates can have dramatic results and they note some stocks that recovered when fishing overexploitation was stopped.
