Canada’s Pacific Groundfish Trawl Habitat Agreement: A Global First in an Ecosystem Approach to Bottom Trawl Impacts

Published by: Academic journal
Authored by: Scott Wallace, Bruce Turris, John Driscoll, Karin Bodtker, Brian Mose, Gordon Munro
Published in: Marine Policy

Oceans and fresh water fisheries and aquaculture, groundfish, conservation, British Columbia, policy, industry

The impact of bottom trawling to seafloor habitat has been one of the major marine conservation issues over the last two decades. This paper describes the conditions, process, and the first two years of results of a precedent setting ecosystem-based management plan to address the habitat impacts of bottom trawling in Canada’s Pacific waters. In British Columbia, Canada, industry and conservation organizations worked collaboratively over a period of three years to develop measures which formally took effect in April 2012.

The measures include:

1. Ecosystem based trawling boundaries
2. The world’s first habitat quota
3. An encounter protocol
4. A habitat review committee.

Measures implemented have resulted in reduced impacts to sensitive benthic habitat features such as coral and sponge complexes. The potential for a similar agreement and management reform elsewhere requires conditions including seafood markets, an effective ENGO sector, a strong regulatory environment, intra-industry cooperation and the proper incentives.