Cod not headed for endangered list: federal fisheries minister

The federal cabinet has formally recommended that cod not be added to a national list of endangered species, Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan says.

An independent panel had recommended that almost all the cod off Newfoundland be covered under the federal Species at Risk Act.

Cod (Courtesy: NOAA)

• FROM MAY 2, 2003:Atlantic cod moved to endangered list

The advice of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada sparked a round of public hearings, in which fishermen pleaded with the federal government to allow limited access to cod.

Regan has said cod is not at risk of becoming extinct.

"The science indicates that while the populations are obviously down, they are not in danger of extinction," he said.

"Scientists are certainly saying that they are at historic lows and they're not as abundant as they were. They're not dominant. There still remain a lot of cod, and, you know, it's not a situation where we think we have to list."

Regan said the federal cabinet also considered the millions of dollars that would be lost in the fishing industry if cod was covered under the Species At Risk Act.

He said listing cod would mean it could no longer be caught as a bycatch in other fisheries, which would effectively shut down those fisheries as well. Bycatch refers to fish accidentally caught by those seeking other species.

Monday's recommendation, however, is not locked down. Cabinet is not set to approve the matter officially until at least April of next year, after the federal election scheduled for January.

The recommendations also include adding three aquatic species to the endangered species act:

• The Scotian Shelf population of the Northern bottlenose whale (endangered).
• The channel darter (threatened).
• Interior Fraser River coho salmon (endangered).

Meanwhile, a new report said cod along the south coast of Newfoundland could be in trouble.

A Department of Fisheries and Oceans report said cod in the 3PS fishing zone may be in decline, and that fishing quotas might have to be cut in the future.

The south coast has had a limited fishery, while fishing for cod has been prohibited in most other areas.

New estimates show there is "substantially less" cod than thought just one year ago.

For the past five years, DFO has set the annual south coast cod quota at 15,000 tonnes.