How we Help

In 2009, the EAC and the David Suzuki Foundation presented a joint proposal to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the fishing industry on ways to ensure protection for endangered and at-risk marine species that get caught in Canada’s Atlantic longline swordfish fishery. This fishery catches leatherback sea turtles, loggerhead turtles as well as porbeagle, shortfin mako and blue sharks, some wanted and some thrown back – all species at risk according to scientific assessments.

Our spokes-shark, Hector, makes his first trip out in public! Hector, with the Ecology Action Centre, attended the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) meeting in Paris; the first and only representatives from a Canadian civil society group. The Ecology Action Centre helped keep an eye on the Canadian delegation (who managed to keep fishing endangered porbeagle sharks), and celebrated a small victory – countries were required to report more shark catch data or lose the right to fish them.

Our presence reminded Canada that it is their duty to manage and conserve fisheries resources. The EAC is urged Canada to support these measures, to fully comply with reporting regulations already in place, and to show leadership when it comes for setting high standards that protect our oceans for generations to come.

The Ecology Action Centre presented an official objection to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification of Canada’s longline swordfish fishery with the support of many other conservation groups.

In response to the MSC assessment report for the Atlantic Canadian swordfish longline fishery, thirty-five marine conservation groups from around the world have signed on to a letter opposing the certification. This certification has received a lot of attention because it is the first surface longline fishery in the world to seek MSC certification.

The Ecology Action Centre argued for the closure of the Canadian directed blue shark fishery with great success! The licenses were cancelled by the end of the year. Next up – Canada’s fishery for endangered porbeagle sharks.

Hector the Blue shark biked to London, England to tell the Marine Stewardship Council – in person (or shark?) – that they were hurting his ocean friends and misleading eco-conscious shoppers.

The Ecology Action Centre went back to ICCAT for the 22nd Regular Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey!

We were disappointed that Canada was still the only country in the world fishing directly for endangered porbeagle sharks and not supporting a “fins attached” landing policy for sharks. This was despite pressure from us and other countries to change its position.

We returned to ICCAT again in 2012 to speak up for the sharks and sea turtles, who were still being caught intentionally or as bycatch in other fisheries. In particular, we asked Canada shut down its directed fishery for porbeagle shark, as we were the last country that insisted upon fishing for this endangered species. Unfortunately, no changes were made.

Back at ICCAT with the support of over 20,000 people, who signed a petition to telling Minister for Fisheries and Oceans to protect the endangered porbeagle shark. Despite this, Canada asked to be granted an exemption to the proposal which would ban the retention of porbeagle shark in ICCAT fisheries, stating that Canada’s porbeagle fishery is well managed and sustainable. Canada once again stood in the way of a proposal to end porbeagle shark fishing in the Atlantic for the third year in a row.

A huge win for sharks! The EAC was very pleased to share that the government has announced the suspension of the directed porbeagle fishery. Now, we could focus our efforts on the larger goal of achieving a ban on the retention of porbeagle sharks at an international level.

Hooray a win for shark conservation! Five new species of commercially important sharks receive international listing status under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered species (CITES) Appendix II, including the porbeagle.

The listing of porbeagle and other shark species under CITES Appendix II has the ability to have a large impact on their recovery. Canada supported the listing of porbeagle, but still remains the only country in the world to continue to allow a directed porbeagle fishery and lands more porbeagle as bycatch than any other country.

Canada’s shark was reassessed as endangered.

Porbeagle shark was re-assessed as endangered in 2014 by COSEWIC because the species still faces significant threats and there was no notable recovery of the population, ten years after the original endangered assessment. The porbeagle was denied listing on the Species at Risk Act (SARA) in 2006, mainly due to socio-economic reasons. Now, the species is awaiting a listing decision on SARA again.

The Ecology Action Centre continues to advocate that no porbeagle sharks should be caught in directed or bycatch fisheries.

The EAC attends the 36th Annual Meeting of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) with reports of new Deep-sea protection measures.

How does this relate to sharks?

Although NAFO is a global leader in implementing the ecosystem approach to managing fisheries, NAFO countries need to make progress on meeting their UN commitments. Progress has been made at for protecting deep-sea ecosystems, but bycatch of unwanted species, including sharks, and unregulated fisheries continue to be a conservation issue that needs to be further addressed. NAFO also failed to adopt the “fins naturally attached” measure to prevent the practice of shark fining.

We attended the 19th Special Meeting of ICCAT. We were disappointed with the results of the meeting, as shark conservation measures fail again!

For the 5th year in a row, Canada was one of a few countries preventing a measure that would prohibit the endangered porbeagle from being retained on fishing vessels. The directed fishery for this shark was closed in 2013, but bycatch in ICCAT fisheries is still one of the largest threats to the species, who was assessed as endangered. Canada did table a proposal that would allow for only the retention of dead sharks, which was the first time that Canada has shown any proactive behavior on porbeagle at ICCAT. Canada also did not support the “fins naturally attached” measure requiring all sharks to be landed with their fins attached, to prevent shark finning. ICCAT members also did not agree to place a limit on the amount of shortfin mako sharks that can be fished in the ICCAT area.

Hopeful news! The Monterey Bay Aquarium released a new sustainable seafood report that recommends consumers avoid swordfish caught by the Canadian surface longline fishery because it is unsustainable.

An exciting development, as we had been warning Canadians for years to avoid the Canadian surface longline fishery due to its bycatch levels, and negative impacts on sharks and turtles, many of which are already at-risk.

The aquarium, ranks fisheries around the world according to a comprehensive assessment methodology. Their report found that Canadian harpoon-caught swordfish meets the “Best Choice” criteria and is a recommended fishery, but that the surface longline fishery does not meet this criteria, and should be avoided.

Back at ICCAT for the sixth year in a row. This year there was progress on protecting porbeagle sharks, but not other species.

ICCAT members finally agreed to further protect porbeagle sharks by banning their retention and specifying the release of live sharks. Unfortunately, other sharks got left behind, as species-specific proposals for the common thresher, shortfin mako and blue sharks reached no agreement. Lastly, Canada failed to support a “fins naturally attached” measure and no agreement was reached. This proposal is considered the most effective method of preventing shark finning, but has been tabled for seven years in a row.

The Ecology Action Centre spoke up about Canada’s role in protecting the high seas, an important ecosystem for highly migratory sharks!

The high seas encompass 50% of our planet, comprises a significant part of global biodiversity, produces much of the oxygen people need, and is important for many of the marine species that exist within our coastal water, particularly highly migratory species like tuna, sharks, whales and seabirds.

The Ecology Action Centre returns from the 38^th Annual Meeting NAFO with good news for sharks! NAFO has adopted the ‘fins naturally attached’ policy to further prevent shark finning, as well as other important conservation measures for the deep ocean, including a new closed area to bottom fishing.

NAFO has made progress on the protection of sharks caught in NAFO fisheries after several years of debate.

We were very pleased that Canada finally supported this measure for the first time! Canada announces that this would be their position both domestically and internationally.

The Ecology Action Centre attended the 20th Special Meeting of ICCAT where Canada took steps towards better shark finning regulations as well as a small step for blue shark limits.

A proposal on Atlantic blue sharks, the most frequently bycaught species in ICCAT fisheries, was adopted this year and will facilitate future discussion on their management. Sadly, this proposal fails to set true catch limits for both the North and South Atlantic stocks, which is needed to protect them from overfishing.

We were pleased that Canada spoke in favor of a “fins naturally attached” proposal but it failed to pass consensus for the 8^th year.

We were disappointed that the proposal and failed and Canada did not end up as one of the proposal’s co-sponsors.

In light of the recent United Nations meeting, the first ever dedicated solely to global oceans, we advocated that the nations of world set catch limits for sharks with no limits and adopt the best practice to prevent shark finning.