A conservation group says a boat illegally dumped a load of herring in Deep Bay, but a career commercial herring fisherman says the alleged dump is par for the course.
On March 19, Conservancy Hornby Island responded to an anonymous tip that a commercial fishing vessel had dumped its load of herring after the packing vessel refused the catch, covering the sea floor beside the government dock in Deep Bay.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said it is investigating the alleged dumping incident.
Locky MacLean of Conservancy Hornby Island says the incident is further evidence that the herring fishery is B次元官网网址渨asteful and unsustainable,B次元官网网址� and needs to be shut down.
B次元官网网址淧ossibly the fish were either spawned out or they were too young, and the roe not large enough for the market,B次元官网网址� CHI chair Grant Scott said in a news release. B次元官网网址淚t is wasteful to the marine environment and the fishing industry itself.B次元官网网址�
According to herring fisherman Thomas Sewid, however, the number of dead fish is a normal accumulation due to fishers cleaning boats, and from seiners cleaning their nets at the dock, which is a loading zone where boats do their cleaning.
B次元官网网址淢y opinions are unbiased. IB次元官网网址檓 coming from a commercial fishing background, from a DFO background (his father is a retired DFO biological technician)B次元官网网址o IB次元官网网址檓 protecting the environment,B次元官网网址� said Sewid, who is the president of Pacific Balance Marine Management. B次元官网网址淭he science is in. They predicted 20 per cent of the biomass they were allowed to catch; 111,000 tonnes so far has been recorded that have come to the Gulf of Georgia. So in fact, they took far less than 20 per cent of the biomass in the Gulf of Georgia. ItB次元官网网址檚 a sustainable fishery. We should be proud of the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans.B次元官网网址�
Since the investigation is ongoing, DFO says it does not have specific details to share at this time.
