Rockfish industry in BC

This month in BC Business Magazine there was a fascinating article by Andrew Findlay entitled "Trawlers Get Their Sea Legs". The article describes the collaboration of environmentalists and fishermen to save a "fishery that was destroying its own livelihood". In essence the article describes how pressure from environmental NGO's resulted in seafood retailers adopting the FishWise, OceanWise and SeaChoice programs of seafood audits was threatening to stop the BC rockfish industry in its' tracks. As a result, an amazing strategy was implemented; among other restrictions " Fishermen agreed to a 20 per cent reduction in their total fishing area—some 9,000 square kilometres of coastal B.C. waters." 

"The Suzuki Foundation’s Scott Wallace won’t go so far as to say that it’s a “sustainable” fishery, yet. He admits even the foundation’s godfather, David Suzuki, remains uneasy about putting the foundation’s stamp of approval on the trawlers. However, Wallace says the fleet has made significant steps to crawl out of the gutter of the red, “don’t touch,” and into the yellow category of the foundation’s SeaChoice rating system."

Photo: Boomer Jerritt, BC Business Magazine

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