Thursday February 15, 2024
Fisherman’s News —
A new report from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) confirms that an estimated 28,117 salmon were caught and discarded as bycatch in the groundfish trawl fishery off the coast of British Columbia in the 2022-2023 fishing season, including some 26,273 Chinook salmon.
The DFO report, released Jan. 22, said that over 20,000 Chinook salmon were likely thrown overboard, while 3,700 were landed and subsequently discarded as waste.
The discard of the Chinooks, a major food source for a remaining 75 endangered Southern Resident killer whales, comes as the Canadian government is investing millions of dollars into protecting Southern Resident orca whales, plus millions of dollars to support wild salmon.
“The is an appalling waste for not just a salmon species that is listed as threatened and endangered in many B.C. and U.S. rivers, but also when the survival of the few remaining Southern Resident killer whales is also at stake,” Sydney Dixon, marine specialist with Pacific Wild, a Canadian charity that protects wildlife and their habitat in the Great Bear Rainforest and Northwest Pacific, said.