Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) is currently accepting comments on the 2024/2025 Draft Integrated Fisheries Management Plan (IFMP) for Pacific herring, with a deadline of November 27, 2024.
This year, Pacific Wild united with ten other organizations to advocate for urgent action. Pacific herring need:
- A temporary moratorium on gillnet and seine fisheries targeting Pacific herring in the Strait of Georgia.
- A rapid transition to an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management.
In solidarity with the WSÁNEĆ hereditary chiefs, we once again call for an immediate halt to commercial gillnet and seine herring fisheries in the Salish Sea.
These measures are critical to protecting Pacific herring, a cornerstone species for marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
download the joint letter
click the image to download
Dear Integrated Herring Harvest Planning Committee (IHHPC),
The following comments are submitted jointly by Pacific Wild Alliance, Conservancy Hornby Island, Herring Conservation and Research Society, Saanich Inlet Protection Society, Bowen Island Conservancy, Association for Denman Island Marine Stewards, Friends of Shoal Harbour, BC Nature, Rocky Point Bird Observatory, Friends of Victoria Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and Nature Victoria in response to the 2024/2025 Integrated Fishery Management Plan (IFMP) for Pacific herring. We stand in solidarity with the WSANEC hereditary chiefs and also make reference to supporting the Q’ul-lhanumutsun Aquatic Resources Society banning the Food and Bait in their territories (Cowichan Tribes, Halalt First Nation, Lyackson First Nation, Penelakut Tribe, Stz’uminus First Nation, and Ts’uubaa-asatx Nations) https://www.qars.ngo/pacific-herring.
Pacific herring are the foundation of the coastal food web in British Columbia (B.C.) and urgently need protection. We, the undersigned, advocate for a swit transition to an ecosystem approach to fisheries management of Pacific herring, alongside an immediate suspension of the commercial herring fishery in the Strait of Georgia (SoG) to allow the population to recover to historical abundance.
Please note, recommendations in this submission are not intended to apply to Food, Social and Ceremonial Fisheries conducted by Indigenous People or commercial Spawn on Kelp.
OUR REASONS TO SUSPEND THE FISHERY ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Herring feed the coast. Herring are fundamental to the B.C. coast. Pacific herring sustain marine biodiversity and hold immense cultural and economic value for First Nations. Their seasonal spawning provides essential food for ecologically, economically, and culturally significant species, such as Chinook and coho salmon, lingcod, Pacific halibut, and numerous marine mammals and seabirds.[1],[2],[3] A recovery of herring in the SoG would help support at-risk Chinook salmon populations, a key prey for endangered Southern Resident orcas (SRKW). Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has already allocated millions of dollars to address threats to these orcas, including boosting Chinook salmon populations —a species whose diet is heavily reliant on herring. Protecting Pacific herring is a key missing part to the SRKW recovery strategy.[4]
Herring are disappearing from their historic range. Herring stocks are declining across their historical range. For more than 50 years, spawning grounds in the SoG have shown a concerning trend of decline from south to north. This trend is now threatening the last significant spawning area north of Nanaimo. Additionally, a narrowing of timing of spawning activity, from five months historically to now only a few weeks, is a main concern and likely represents a loss of genetic diversity.[5] We have seen no evidence that DFO has identified the drivers of spawn loss in the SoG, indicating that the stock is being managed in the absence of this understanding.
DFO is using a decades-old population baseline. The claim that herring are at historic high numbers in the SoG relies on population data from 1951 provides an inaccurate historical baseline that does not relect pre-industrial abundance. Traditional First Nations knowledge and archaeological evidence indicate that herring were historically far more plentiful along the Pacific coast.[6] Some research estimates declines of forage fish populations, including herring, by up to 99 per cent in many areas.[7]
Herring are worth more in the water & the commercial value of the herring fishery is in decline. The species that eat herring support lucrative ocean-based tourism and commercial and sport fisheries that generate more revenue and employment than the herring fishery. Furthermore, the economic value of herring fisheries has been declining for decades, with the average landed value dropping from $1.78 per kilogram in 1990 to about $0.46 per kilogram in 2022 (unadjusted for inlation).[8]
“[DFO] still does not have a complete picture about the amount of fish harvested and their biological characteristics to make informed decisions…[DFO] does not have the important information it needs to support the sustainable management of fisheries, and it runs the risk that fish stocks are overexploited” (Office of the Auditor General of Canada, 2023, pg iii, para 3-4).
Climate change threatens herring survival. Herring eggs and juveniles are highly sensitive to ocean temperatures, which have risen in B.C. between 0.6 to 1.40C within the last hundred years, with some areas in the Strait of Georgia warming by up to 2.20C per century. Research shows that elevated temperatures, especially chronic ones, are devastating for the survival of young herring.[9] On the Atlantic coast, where herring populations have critically declined, a moratorium has been in efect for two years. Atlantic fisheries experts caution that recovery may not be possible without substantial environmental improvements, highlighting the need for precautionary management in the Pacific.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Create a Recovery Plan for Herring in the SoG: We recommend the development of a recovery plan for herring in the SoG, modeled on the Drat Haida Gwaii ʹíináang | iinang Pacific Herring: An Ecosystem Overview and Ecosystem-based Rebuilding Plan. This should involve First Nations, independent scientists, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to ensure a robust recovery framework.
Urgently incorporate an Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM): We strongly encourage fast- tracking the application of EAFM to Pacific herring management, incorporating Indigenous Knowledge Systems, climate adaptation, and the species’ ecological role. This approach will ensure that management considers the herring’s role in the broader ecosystem.[10]
Identify migratory and resident herring populations in the IFMP: The IFMP assigns stocks to the area in which they are fished – however, there is suficient evidence to suggest that the SoG is home to both local and migratory populations of herring, some of which have already been extirpated. As such, they cannot be managed as the same unit. This crucial information has remained under-researched and unmentioned in management plans despite the acknowledgement of the existence of local, non-migratory herring populations as early as 1934.[11]
Fisheries and Oceans holds a legal duty to sustain herring populations for First Nations, the coastal ecosystem, and all British Columbians, whose lives are closely interconnected with herring.
Public support for suspending the herring fishery is substantial. We urge you to suspend the commercial roe herring fishery in the Strait of Georgia to support herring, and all those that rely on them, into the future.
Sincerely,
Sydney Dixon, Marine Specialist, Pacific Wild
Melanda Schmid-Ochieng, Executive Director, Conservancy Hornby Island Cath Gray, Chair, Conservancy Hornby Island
Jim Shortreed, President, Herring Conservation & Restoration Society
Briony Penn, Treasurer, Herring Conservation & Restoration Society
Micheal Simmons, Vice President, Saanich Inlet Protection Society
Dorrance Woodward, Chair, Association for Denman Island Marine Stewards John Rich, Director, Bowen Island Conservancy
Nancy Flood, President, BC Nature
Rosa Munzer, President, Rocky Point Bird Observatory
Bob Peart, Chair, Friends of Shoal Harbour
Jacques Sirois, Chair, Friends of Victoria Harbour Migratory Bird Sanctuary Andrew Harcombe, President, Nature Victoria
