Solutions

Policy reform

Sustainable Seafood Canada is asking the Canadian government to consider the following reforms as true commitments to achieving sustainable fisheries for present and future generations of Canadians:

1. Protect critical ocean habitat and phase out the use of damaging gears in these habitats. Provide fair incentives that promote shifts to less destructive technologies. SeaChoice supports recommendations from the 2005 Gearshift conference.
2. Acknowledge the biological limits of ocean systems by decreasing fishing fleet capacity, wasteful subsidies and plan for stock fluctuations.
3. Ensure that aquaculture operates under sustainable standards, placing the burden of proof on users of marine ecosystems.
4. Create networks of marine reserves to protect representative marine habitats and safeguard livelihoods. Meet standards set at the 2003 World Parks Congress in Durban, that recommended governments establish marine protected areas that are “extensive and include strictly protected areas that amount to at least 20-30 percent of each habitat”.
5. Provide adequate funding for fisheries management, data acquisition and enforcement.
6. Give all relevant stakeholders a meaningful say in fisheries management.