November 22, 2013 — Several valuable commercial fish species in Newfoundland and Labrador, including Atlantic cod and redfish, are being considered for threatened or endangered status, CBC News has confirmed.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has recommended Fisheries and Oceans protect select populations of Atlantic cod, American Plaice, deep water redfish and Acadian redfish under the Species at Risk Act (SARA).
DFO has been going through a public consultation process related to the recommendations.
If, at the end of the SARA assessment process, the department agrees with the COSEWIC recommendations, it would mean the end of those fisheries — which are worth a combined total of approximately $10 million in landed value annually.
"If listed under the Act as endangered or threatened, these species would be subject to prohibitions and therefore it would be illegal to kill, harm, possess, buy or sell fish from these populations, or destroy their critical habitat," a DFO spokesperson told the Fisheries Broadcast.
Read the full story at CBC News