Ocean advocacy group renews call to end capelin fishing

Oceana Canada is calling for a shutdown of the capelin fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, saying the stock needs time to replenish. (Paul Daly/The Canadian Press)

A marine conservation group is making renewed calls to stop Newfoundland and Labrador’s capelin fishery as a scientist says the stock needs time to recover and support the growth of other stocks.

Oceana Canada has released a series of videos interviewing residents of the province about the fish’s importance to the environment during last summer’s capelin hunt.

Marine scientist Jack Daly told CBC News the stock needs to be better managed. Stock assessments show there isn’t as much capelin in the water as there used to be, he said.

He and the group recommend a short-term closure of the fishery to help rebuild the population.

“We want to see a commercial fishery one day when the population is healthy,” Daly said.

“(Capelin decline) is having a real impact on everyday life, whether through people taking part in capelin rolls, which are getting shorter every year, or seabirds feeling the effects of continued capelin stagnation. Or in general.” The lack of return of the cod is partly due to the lack of capelin.

A federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans stock assessment released in March found that capelin stocks in zone 2J3KL – which covers much of Newfoundland’s coast – had been moved out of the critical zone, but noted that this does not mean there are more capelin exists in the water. The assessment found that capelin biomass in 2024 will be similar to or slightly lower than biomass in 2023.

The assessment highlights the challenges facing the stock, such as late spawning, earlier capelin maturation and a population dominated by relatively young fish.

“Because most fish die after spawning, we don’t see older fish in the population. This means a lower overall reproductive potential for the stock as older and larger fish produce more eggs,” said a technical briefing on the assessment.

Daly argued that fishing plays a role in the lack of older fish in the population, as removing younger capelin from the water limits population growth.

He says ending the capelin fishery would also benefit Atlantic cod stocks because the fish feed on capelin.

“Capelin has been identified in this year’s stock assessment as one of the main reasons why northern cod is not recovering as expected,” he said.

Ocean Canada marine scientist Jack Daly, seen in this file photo, says capelin impacts other animals in the ecosystem and that replenishing the stock would help other stocks. (Ted Dillon/CBC)

DFO also lowered the boundary reference point – a point that marks the boundary between the warning and critical zones of a stock – for capelin from 640 kilotons to 155 kilotons.

While this amount of capelin can support Atlantic cod in the current state of the stock, Daly said, it does not represent the amount of capelin needed to support a rebuilding of the stock.

“We are not seeing a significant increase in the capelin population,” he said. “We want to stop … and we see this as the best we can get.”

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