Report on sockeye salmon collapse released

Commissioner Bruce Cohen. Photo, CTV BC News

Report on sockeye salmon collapse released 

Dene Moore and Tamsyn Burgmann, The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012

The judge who conducted a two-year inquiry into the health of one of British Columbia's most lucrative fisheries has concluded the federal government's changes to the Fisheries Act have the potential to harm -- not help -- Fraser River sockeye.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Cohen also said it was "regrettable" the government didn't wait to pass Bill C-38 until after he had submitted his report.

"I find it difficult to avoid the conclusion that legislative amendments in Bill C-38 lower the standard of protection for Fraser River sockeye salmon," he said.

Bill C-38 was tabled five months after Cohen's hearings were over and it was enacted this summer. The bill changes how fish habitats are protected and puts in place new management enforcement and environmental assessment provisions.

Cohen said his biggest worry is that those changes are focused more on developing fisheries than promoting habitat, even though experts have stressed eco-based values such as promoting biodiversity.

He said changes to the Fisheries Act might actually authorize harm to fish habitat. They appear to be taking the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in a very different direction than the one he laid out in his report, he said.

"DFO's first priority must be the health of wild stocks." Cohen said repeatedly during the news conference.

"What about the future?" Cohen asked. "I my view, unless significant, remedial measures are introduced soon, the stressors that are currently believed to affect sockeye negatively will continue to do so."

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Report on sockeye salmon collapse released | CTV British Columbia News