Fish populations in Canada need to be urgently rebuilt.
Fish populations in Canada need to be urgently rebuilt, but short-term socio-economic concerns – such as the impacts of fisheries closures on local fishers – often slow down or even prevent the process of rebuilding stocks.
According to a new UBC analysis published in Ocean and Coastal Management, the long-term economic benefits of rebuilding several important Canadian fish stocks – including Pacific herring, West Coast Vancouver Island Chinook salmon and Atlantic cod – could outweigh the short-term losses. The study found that the estimated economic gains could be up to 11 times higher than the status quo under the most optimistic rebuilding scenario, and five times above the status quo under the least optimistic.
We spoke to the authors of study; Louise Teh, a research associate, and Rashid Sumaila, a professor, at the Fisheries Economics Research Unit in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs about the findings.
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