U.S. Fisheries Expert Slams Canadian Report That Projects Fisheries Collapse

HALIFAX (CP) – An American fisheries expert is slamming key findings of a recent report that warned the world’s major fish stocks could collapse by 2048.

Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington in Seattle says there are fundamental flaws with the study that projected the near disappearance of all commercially fished species in a matter of decades if fishing practices aren’t changed.

Hilborn says the authors – including Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax – used faulty data when assessing the health of international fish stocks.

He says the authors relied on catches, rather than the actual size of the stock, to determine whether a certain species was facing collapse.

Hilborn, who teaches fisheries management and has studied fisheries on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, says that method provides a skewed picture of the size of fish stocks.

Despite the growing criticism, Worm is standing by last month’s report, which made front-page news around the world.

Worm says his team of international researchers used the best data available, adding that many countries don’t have comprehensive estimates of fish stocks.