VANCOUVER—The long-term decline in Canada’s fish stocks has yet to be halted, let alone reversed, despite the federal government’s commitments, according to a new report.

Only one-third of the country’s marine stocks are considered “healthy” — and even those are in steady decline, the audit by non-profit charity Oceana Canada found.

“The federal government is still failing to manage — by its own timelines, by best practices and by all the evidence before us — the state of our fisheries,” said Robert Rangeley, Oceana Canada’s director of science. “The longer a stock is depleted and the further it is depleted, the longer the road back.”

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (often called the DFO) is falling “far short” in meeting agreed-upon timelines for work plans. For example, the report noted, in 2017/18 the agency completed only a quarter of its work plans for the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, there are still “big” gaps in the data made publicly available to even assess fish stock health, the report found.

Still, some progress has been made, Rangeley told StarMetro.

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First, the DFO released its annual sustainability survey and departmental work plans, he said, following Oceana Canada’s first audit last year and a call for more transparency.

Then the House of Commons passed revisions in June to strengthen the Fisheries Act. The new proposed act sets an expectation that stocks must be managed at healthy levels and must be rebuilt if depleted.

“The proposed legislation continues to offer the minister wide latitude to exempt stocks from rebuilding and sustainable fishing requirements,” Rangeley said. “But if supported by strong regulations, these changes will help drive the urgency and timelines.”

Stock numbers have barely changed from the previous year, and if commitments were met, the report argues, there would already be change. Some stocks could rebound to healthy levels in as little as 10 years.

StarMetro reached out to the DFO, but they were not immediately available for comment.

Canada was the world’s eighth largest fish and seafood exporter in 2015, with exports to more than 130 countries valued at $6 billion, according to the government’s website.

But due to a lack of sufficient data, the health of 72 stocks out of a total 194 remain uncertain, the report noted. Some of these, such as Pacific sardines, may be in critical condition, while others such as Labrador lobster are likely to be healthy.

Meanwhile, most of the 26 critically endangered stocks do not have rebuilding plans in place. That number has not moved since last year, the report noted.

Roughly 30 stocks sit in the “cautious” zone.

Rangeley said the DFO is “falling behind” on implementing plans. For instance, four of the five rebuilding plans promised for March 2018 remain incomplete. Key policies remain in draft form, he said, while management information is often published late or not at all.

Much more needs to be done, he said.

“Climate change is constantly changing the equation,” he explained. “That means consciously managing fish stocks to allow them to rebuild and become more resilient for the kinds of inevitable, but expected, changes such as warming waters and changing distribution of predators and prey.”

Depleted stocks also mean that the fish themselves change, he added. For instance, they don’t grow as large and reproduce at a younger age.

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The report recommends three priority areas to reduce uncertainty in Canada’s seafood industry: strong regulations for the new Fisheries Act, implementation of the DFO’s current commitments in annual plans and delivery on rebuilding plans.

“We need to assess stocks more frequently and take on more precautionary management until stocks are out of a risky zone,” Rangeley said.

The report focused on Canada’s marine fisheries and includes finfish, shellfish and other invertebrates but did not cover freshwater fish, such as salmon. The data was collected from June 19, 2017 to July 1, 2018.

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