Team NAFO
by Janice Ryan
WWF Fisheries Specialist
In my third year the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization was founded in good faith to conserve and manage the fishery resources that straddled the 200 mile exclusive economic zone off the coastline of Newfoundland and Labrador. I grew up listening to the suppertime news broadcast stories about “foreign overfishing” and the major drawback of the “objection clause” that gave contracting parties (CP) (i.e. member states of NAFO) license to set their own quotas if their NAFO allocated quota was unsatisfactory. It seems like only yesterday we were all caught up in the frenzy created by the “Turbotnator’s” (aka Brian Tobin) reaction to claims that a NAFO CP was illegally fishing Greenland halibut just outside Canada’s 200 mile limit.
Newfoundland (c) Janice Ryan/WWF-Canada
I envisioned NAFO as the upper echelons of Fisheries Management. An entity that was capable of making decisions that would spark international conflicts on the high seas and incite the passion of my fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. So imagine my excitement in April when I accepted a position that would allow me to be front and center on the NAFO file for the WWF-Canada!
This past spring I ascended the NAFO learning curve thanks to my colleagues at WWF and Fisheries and Oceans Canada working in the science and fish management branches of our regional headquarters. Their patience and time allowed me to gain the knowledge and critical insight required to be an active participant of “Team NAFO”. It didn’t take me long to realize the main issue slowing down the recovery of cod on the Grand Banks was issue of cod by-catch in other directed fisheries in the NAFO regulatory area 3NO. Not an easy problem to solve. In addition I became well versed in the fascinating world of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) and the importance of more stringent measures to protect them for the benefit of life on the Grand Banks. Both government and industry reiterated the serious issue regarding the lack of “transparency” in the decision making process. This has been an age old problem in fisheries management that has been tackled with some success here at the regional level through the implementation of a collaborative management process with stakeholders.
WWF’s pre-NAFO consultation process was a little nerve wracking, to say the least! Not easy to put forth a strong position to the world’s superpowers, that if accepted, would amend the NAFO Conservation and Enforcement Measures on the by-catch of cod. Now try doing that over a conference call – it was like playing poker with blinders on. Much to my pleasant surprise the “powers that be” were very cordial and open to our recommendations. In fact we learned from listening to each other and embraced ideas that at the end of the day strengthened our position. Now off to the races in Halifax!
The NAFO Annual Meeting was certainly impressive with respect to the scale of participation. I don’t think I had seen that many suits in the last ten funerals I’ve attended – serious business indeed. Sitting through the meetings I observed a higher level of open discussion on issues and proposals put forth by CP’s. The NAFO veterans expressed satisfaction that NAFO was heading in the right direction guided by an independent performance review of NAFO. Other steps forward included the adoption of an interim plan for cod recovery and progress on VMEs which included an agreement to reassess the impacts of bottom fishing.
WWF’s commitment to the recovery of the Grand Banks ecosystem in the last six years has made significant differences on how NAFO manages fisheries. We are seeing the positive conservation impacts, in particular with significant growth in the cod population on the southern Grand Banks. There is still much work to do with respect to the battle on by-catch and strengthening the conservation efforts on VMEs. However each small step forward provides the momentum required to keep pursuing WWF’s goal of a healthy and sustainable ecosystem on the Grand Banks!
