Fisheries and Oceans Canada is falling short when it comes to protecting endangered aquatic species — particularly species that are commercially valuable — says a new report tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
The 2022 Fall Reports from Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner Jerry DeMarco found inadequate staffing, knowledge gaps and a bias against protecting species of commercial value at the department.
“In our view, there shouldn’t be such a bias, because if you take a longer-term view, the economic interest and the environmental interest in terms of protecting biodiversity should coincide,” DeMarco told a news conference Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, short-term economic concerns can trump the need for long-term measures to protect a species.”
The report said Fisheries and Oceans Canada did not have enough staff to enforce laws aimed at protecting at-risk species.
The audit report also took Fisheries and Oceans Canada to task for delays in assessing whether a species needs special protection. It found the department was taking more than three and a half years on average to list a species as at-risk — in some cases much longer.
And when that assessment relates to a fish with significant commercial value, the report said, the department appears to lean against listing the fish as needing special protection.
The report pointed to Newfoundland and Labrador’s Atlantic cod stocks as an example of a species the department hasn’t listed for special protection in spite of its low population.
Overfishing led to a moratorium on commercial fishing of Newfoundland cod in 1992, and twice since then the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada assessed cod stocks as “endangered” — meaning they face an imminent danger of being wiped out.
DeMarco cited the job losses that the moratorium caused as an example of how failing to protect a species can harm the economy.