Canada’s deep, dark fisheries secret: the longspine thornyhead

Credit: Dave Wrobel (c) MBARI 1995 More information on thornyhead closure (PDF 224 KB)

To tell the story of the longspine thornyhead is to take a journey to the depths of the Pacific Ocean off Canada’s West Coast. This little-known fish can be found nestled on the seafloor nearly one kilometre below the surface. Its story is one of survival of the rarest kind.  

Despite a habitat with virtually no oxygen, extreme water pressure, no sunlight, and little food supply, this groundfish continues to eke out an existence. What the fishing industry calls the “idiotfish” others would call a biological genius, as it has survived and evolved for eons in one of the Earth’s least habitable environments.


The Issue

Beginning in 1996, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) endorsed a deep-sea bottom-trawl fishery for this species with virtually no information about its abundance or life history. By 2002 the landings had peaked, and in 2007 the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) designated the longspine thornyhead as “special concern”. All research and catch information shows a marked decline of more than 50 to 60 percent in the longspine thornyhead population. However, rather than closing this fishery in light of the available scientific information, ecosystem impacts from bottom trawling, and the special concern designation, DFO has allowed the fishery to continue with no change in fishing practices.


Our Position

The David Suzuki Foundation has called for an immediate interim closure of this fishery, to be reopened only under the following conditions:

A. Completion of a management plan for longspine thornyhead in the spirit of the legal intent of the Species at Risk Act for special concern species. This will likely entail a revised total allowable catch (TAC), spatial closures, improved stock assessment, a schedule of studies to obtain basic life-history science necessary to manage this fishery, and explicit target reference points.

B. Completion and implementation of the federal policy for Managing the Impacts of Fishing on Sensitive Benthic Areas.

C. A risk assessment of the fishery that evaluates risk to habitat, target species, and bycatch.

D. A public advisory process in place for the management of the groundfish fishery.

For More Information

A longer description of our conservation concerns and rationale for an immediate interim bottom-trawl closure is available here.


What you can do
 
Let the government know that Canadians do not tolerate unsustainable fisheries.
Take action! Write a letter!

Attention: The Hon. Loyola Hearn, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, hearn.l@parl.gc.ca

SAMPLE LETTER (Copy and paste into your email and edit as you like)

Dear Minister Hearn, The directed deep-sea bottom-trawl fishery for the longspine thornyhead off Canada’s Pacific coast is unsustainable by any measure. Deep-sea species are inherently vulnerable to fishing pressure, and the longspine thornyhead is no exception. The fishery commenced (in 1996), developed, peaked, and became over-fished in less than a decade. Despite strong evidence of a depleted stock and a COSEWIC designation of “special concern”, your department has not taken any action to change the management for this species. An immediate interim moratorium should be placed on this fishery until an ecosystem-based management plan is developed that addresses the conservation concerns associated with the species, bycatch, and habitat impacts. The thornyhead fishery is a clear example of fisheries management abdicating its responsibility for precautionary fisheries under both national and international obligations. Thank you for considering this matter to ensure the long-term viability of our deep-sea fish stocks and ecosystems. Sincerely, Your name here.