1. CANADA’S RENEWABLE RESOURCES: PART 3
CANADA’S FISHERIES
CANADA’S RENEWABLE RESOURCES: PART 3

2. AGENDA Fisheries Overview Types and locations of fish in Canada
Methods of fishing in Canada
The collapse of Canada’s fisheries
Required reading: p

3. FISHERIES: AN OVERVIEW
Resources Required:
Naturally occurring fish stocks
Problems:
Overfishing (fish stocks are often mined)
Pollution (reduces numbers and can make fish inedible)
Climate Change (temperatures change fish habits)
Risk Factor:
High (many of the world’s fisheries are already emptied)

4. TYPES AND LOCATIONS OF FISH
Canada has two primary regions where our fisheries are found: the Atlantic and Pacific Maritime regions.
Within these regions, three different categories of fish make up the majority of the fishery industry.
CATEGORY
DESCRIPTION
EXAMPLES
Groundfish
Fish that feed on and are caught near the ocean floor
cod, pollock, haddock, halibut, flounder, redfish
Pelagic (Surface) Fish
Fish that feed on and are caught near the ocean surface
salmon, herring, tuna, mackerel, capelin
Shellfish
Mollusks and crustaceans
shrimp, lobster, oysters, scallops, mussels

5. COMMON COMMERCIAL FISH
Lobster and Crab
(tasty, but pinchy!)
B.C. Sockeye Salmon
COMMON COMMERCIAL FISH
Atlantic Cod (yummy, but mostly gone…)
Halibut (they’re big!)

6. THE GRAND BANKS Red: Shellfish and Mollusks Purple: Groundfish
Open Sea (blue): Pelagic Fish
The cold Labrador Current and the warmer Gulf Stream meet off the coast of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
This makes the shallows of the Grand Banks one of the world’s best fisheries!

7. Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia

8. CANADA’S WEST COAST FISHERIES
U.S.A.
Turquoise: Groundfish
Open Sea (blue): Pelagic Fish
Similar to the Grand Banks, two different ocean currents meet near the shallows of the Pacific Maritimes.
Salmon in particular is one of the most significant catches in this region. (yum!)
Warm Alaska Current
Cold California Current
U.S.A.

9. British Columbia’s Fisheries

10. METHODS OF FISHING IN CANADA
IN SHORE FISHING
OFF SHORE FISHING
Small boats with limited gear, usually a self employed fisherman
Large ships with a variety of equipment, company owned
Accounts for 85% of people employed in fishing, but results in just 10% of the fish caught
Represents just 15% of fishers, but accounts for 90% of the fish caught
Day trips only
No fishing during bad weather
Out for 2+ weeks at a time on a trip in any weather
Low income, subject to many government regulations
Reasonable level of income, often subject to fewer regulations
Lobster, shrimp, clams, cod, and haddock are primary targets
Harvest cod, sole, halibut, redfish, flounder, tuna, salmon

11. METHODS OF FISHING IN CANADA
TYPE OF NET
DESCRIPTION
DIAGRAM
Purse Seining
Circling a school of fish with a net, then drawing the net closed to collect fish
Gill Netting
Passing fish are caught in the net pulled behind a trawler
Otter Trawling
A bag-shaped net is dragged along the ocean floor

12. What happened to all Canada’s fishies? These videos help explain!

13. "(Bottom trawling is) akin to someone plowing up a wildflower meadow, just because they can," says a marine biologist at the UK's York University. Others have compared it to the deforestation of tropical rainforests.

14. Bottom-trawling's knock-on impacts are best illustrated by the plight of the deep-sea fish, the orange roughy. Populations have been reduced to less than 10% remaining, according to marine scientists.
Overfishing has been going on for decades. Tens of thousands of bluefin tuna were caught every year in the North Sea in the 1930s and 1940s. Today, they have disappeared across the seas of Northern Europe. Halibut has suffered a similar fate, almost vanishing from the North Atlantic since the 19th century.

15. V2 V2 IS FISH FARMING THE ANSWER?
Fish farming (aquaculture) now accounts for over 50% of the fish we consume worldwide.
The main advantage of this is it reduces the strain on the most consumed species of fish.
However, drawbacks include increased fishing of other wild fish (for fish food) and increased pollution and fish-specific diseases.

16. MORE INFORMATION Check out the following for more: HOMEWORK
climate-change/
HOMEWORK
Reading:
Questions:
p , #1-5
p. 123, #1-4