"Commercial salmon fishing will be closed in most of coastal B.C. this year and into the foreseeable future to save the West Coast's critically low fish stocks, the federal government announced Tuesday.
Nearly 60 per cent of the province's commercial salmon fisheries, once the economic and cultural backbone of the B.C. coast, will be forced to shutter in 2021, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) said. Yukon salmon rivers will also be closed to all commercial fishing in 2021, while recreational fisheries in both Yukon and B.C. will be restricted. Many of B.C.'s coastal fisheries will likely not reopen to commercial harvesting for years in an attempt to revive the province's dwindling salmon populations.
“No fisheries minister wants to make these kinds of decisions, because they're very difficult and impact people's livelihoods,” said federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan. “(But) no fisheries minister wants to be the minister when the stock collapses, and that's where we are right now with Pacific salmon — it's a stock on the verge of collapse. If we don't do everything we can, we won't have salmon.”"
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson reports for Canada's National Observer June 29, 2021.
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