Canada needs better tracking of debris in the ocean, says researcher

A new report on the state of the world's fisheries highlights, among other things, the need for better monitoring of lost and abandoned fishing gear in the ocean, according to a Halifax researcher .

The 2018 edition of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture was released last week at an international meeting of producers and fisheries researchers, organized by the United Nations.

This report provides a comprehensive picture of trends in stocks and processing of fisheries and aquaculture. fishing fleets of the world.

But Susanna Fuller, Senior Project Manager for the NGO Oceans North, said some of the report's elements are particularly relevant to Nova Scotia. She attended the meeting last week

Fuller said Information Morning about the lessons that can be learned from the report. Here is a part of this conversation

One of the statistics we have heard recently is that there could be more plastic in the oceans than fish in a few decades. How do we keep plastic out of the ocean?

So plastic is definitely a problem and was raised as a threat to fish production [at the meeting]. Canada and Nova Scotia are doing well. Compared to other countries, and especially to developing countries, we have a fairly sophisticated waste management system. That said, one of the biggest contributors to ocean plastic is fishing equipment and it's something we do not keep very well in Canada.

Other countries are doing much better at locating fishing gear and removing it. I know that … the Northern Fundy Fishermen's Association did a great job of removing the lobster traps, but in Canada we could

You said that they had a great initiative in the Bay of Fundy, that 's the ghost gear initiative project, can you tell us more about it?

The Global Ghost Gear Initiative – what they do, is to work with fishermen around the world to mark fishing gear and ensure that fishing gear are recovered and returned. And the Fundy North Fishermen's Association has put together a program over the past two years to eliminate the pitfalls. I think they actually removed more than 1,000 Bay of Fundy traps

So, how can we get more of these groups?

I honestly think that the commitment around the right whale entanglement has been a bit of a wake up call, as difficult as it has been, and continues to be. to be for the fishermen on the water.

I think being proactive and really trying to take care of equipment is something we can do and I think there is funding to help fishermen do it. Many of these things are of the will, and so if an badociation can decide to lead this project, others can too.

There is much talk of food waste nowadays, how does the fishery

On a global scale, statistics indicate that about 35 percent of the world's food is lost. 100% of capture fisheries are lost, either at sea, in the supply chain, at the table of consumption, at the restaurant table or in grocery stores. We do not have a good command of these statistics in Canada and one of the things we discussed last week is that there must be a better way to help countries track waste.

Is there interest? the industry here to answer that?

I think so. I think one of the things is that we have shellfish fisheries that have less waste because we catch everything. So lobster, crab, shrimp – quite a bit of waste.

Fuller stated that shellfish fisheries produce less waste. (Pat Martel / CBC)

We have a high value shellfish fishery and sometimes the incentive to make more money is not really there . So I think we could do a lot more regarding this type of innovation

So, everything is fine now. What does that say about our future? Are we paying attention to that?

I think there are some important things we need to pay attention to in Canada. One is climate change. It's huge. And Canada offered to organize a workshop on climate change for global fisheries. I think it's a very good step.

Climate change will only complicate the lives of many of our fisheries because we depend on a natural ecosystem to produce our proteins.

This is a big problem for me and I think we are already seeing the effects on whale migrations.

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