Language selection

Government of Canada / Gouvernement du Canada

Search

Terms of Reference

Guidance related to Bycatch and Discards in Canadian Commercial Fisheries

National Peer Review Meeting – National Capital Region

March 5-7, 2012
Montréal, QC

Co-Chairs: Jake Rice & Andrea White

Context

Endorsed by Canada, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) approved Resolution 64/72 on Sustainable Fisheries in September 2009. This Resolution calls on States and regional fisheries management organisations and arrangements (RFMO/A) to apply the precautionary and ecosystem approaches in adopting and implementing conservation and management measures to address bycatch, pollution, over-fishing, and to protect habitats of specific concern.

Coordinated by the FAO Committee on Fisheries (COFI), the International Guidelines on Bycatch Management and Reduction of Discards were developed to assist States and RFMO/As in implementing the ‘Code’ and an ecosystem approach to fisheries through effective management of bycatch and reduction of discards. The FAO Bycatch Guidelines can be found at: http://www.fao.org/cofi/cofi2011/en/.

The FAO Bycatch Guidelines indicate that States should establish and implement national policies for the effective management of bycatch and reduction discards based on the application of the ecosystem approach to fisheries and should give consideration to all significant sources of fishing mortality. In addition to efforts to reduce bycatch, the Guidelines encourage efforts to ensure rational utilization is made of the remaining bycatch and discards that would otherwise be wasted. One possible option for the rational utilization of bycatch and discards may be the incorporation into the production of fishmeal and fish oil for the production of aquaculture feed.

Endorsed by Canada and similar to the guidance of the FAO, Aichi Biodiversity Target #6 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is focused on the sustainable management and harvest of all fish and invertebrate stocks through the application of ecosystem-based approaches, including ensuring that the impacts of fisheries on stocks, species, and ecosystems are within safe ecological limits. The Aichi Targets of the CBD can be found at:http://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/.

In alignment with its international commitments, Canada is domestically implementing the Sustainable Fisheries Framework (SFF) which aims to ensure that fisheries are environmentally sustainable while supporting economic prosperity. A key component of the SFF is its Policy Framework on Managing Bycatch and Discards (currently under development). The draft Policy aims to ensure that Canadian fisheries are managed in a manner that supports the sustainable harvesting of aquatic species by:

The draft Policy applies to retained and discarded bycatch. It describes these categories as:

  1. Any retained species or specimens that the fisher was not licensed to direct for but is required or permitted to retain;
  2. All discards, including catch released from gear and entanglements, whether alive, injured or dead, and whether of the target species or the non-target species.

For some bycatch species there may already be sufficient information to assess stock status or to develop precautionary reference points, while others are managed through existing fishing plans. However for some bycatch species, there may be limited information on their biology, distribution, or status, and/or a lack of formal abundance estimates that result in a lesser understanding about how much bycatch mortality is occurring or whether these levels are sustainable.

A national Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) peer review process will be held in Montreal, Québec from March 5-7, 2012 to:

  1. Provide science advice on the range of risk-based techniques available for determining sustainable mortality levels of Canadian bycatch species; and
  2. Determine the total volume and diversity of bycatch and discards from Canadian commercial fisheries and identify those that could be used in the production of fishmeal and/or fish oil for aquaculture.

Objectives

Based on the working papers presented at the meeting, meeting participants will intend to fulfill the following objectives:

  1. Considering all available relevant literature, discuss and determine the key components of a science-based framework to establish safe biological limits for bycatch species (e.g. identification of species likely to be captured, assess availability and levels of catch data; summary of available information and life history characteristics, evaluation of survivorship if released; maximum sustainable mortality rates, calculation of bycatch limits and unsustainable take, etc.).
  2. Many approaches for assessing sustainability of fishing impacts on populations focus on the sustainability of the mortality rate. In that context:
    1. Review various techniques/approaches that could be used to determine natural mortality rates and maximum sustainable mortality rates of bycatch species;
    2. Review various techniques/approaches for converting maximum sustainable mortality rates into safe biological limits for bycatch species.
    3. For 2a) and 2b) report on the factors that would affect the accuracy and precision of the estimates of mortality rates, etc.
  3. For any other techniques/approaches for assessing sustainability of bycatch that emerges from the literature review and discussions, outline the steps needed to determine safe biological limits and the key factors that would affect their suitability.
  4. Considering all available, relevant information, estimate the volume and diversity of bycatch and discards from Canadian commercial fisheries.
  5. Based on the information compiled in Objective 4), determine which species would be appropriate for consideration in the production of fishmeal and fish oil for aquaculture.

Note that science advice regarding the actual values of maximum sustainable mortality rates for bycatch species within Canadian waters will not be given at this peer review process. However, in demonstrating how a certain technique may be used to estimate these limits, quantitative values may be given as examples.

Expected Publications

Participation

Notice

Participation to CSAS peer review meetings is by invitation only.

Date modified: