Cod May Be an Endangered Wildlife Species

Atlantic cod among endangered wildlife: Committee


By Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service May 3, 2010 Comments (5)
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More Images » Atlantic cod fish.Photograph by: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images, Canwest News ServiceAtlantic cod, an Ontario bumblebee and a western pine tree should be added to Canada's grim list of endangered species, says a national committee that tracks more than 600 wildlife species at risk across the country.


Decades of unsustainable harvesting have depleted three of the four cod stocks in Atlantic Canada by 90 per cent or more since the 1960s, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada said Monday, announcing it will recommend to the federal government that cod and several other species be listed as endangered.


Long the economic and dietary mainstay of Maritime communities, cod is in danger from Labrador South to Nova Scotia, the committee said.


"Continuing directed fisheries and bycatch, combined with major changes in marine food webs in some areas, have significantly reduced the ability of cod populations south of Baffin Island to rebuild," said COSEWIC, which has just completed an assessment of the dwindling stocks.


"Except along the northeast of Newfoundland, cod stocks continue to decline, some in the absence of fishing, and others are still being fished and not being allowed to rebuild," said Jeffrey Hutchings, a fisheries biologist at Dalhousie University and outgoing COSEWIC chair.


"Every cod stock is below — and some of them way below — their conservation limits right now," he said in an interview.


The "scariest part" of the assessment dealt with cod in the southern Gulf of Saint Lawrence, Hutchings said. It was the largest cod stock in the world in mid-80s and is now predicted to be potentially gone within 40 years — even if harvesting stops.


"The fishing has pushed the cod to such a low level they have passed their tipping point," said Hutchings.


He said the situation has worsened since 2003, when COSEWIC recommended the government list one cod "unit" as endangered; now all four "units" from Labrador south are in danger.


The government usually acts on COSEWIC's recommendations when it comes to birds and bees — but not when it comes to commercially harvested creatures like cod. In fact, the government rejected a 2003 recommendation to list the cod as endangered because of "socio-economic" concerns.


Hutchings noted that listing cod as endangered would legally require the federal government to develop and implement a recovery strategy.


"That would be a big advantage," he said.


COSEWIC — which met in late April to assess 51 species — said a once-common bumblebee is also endangered.


The Rusty-Patched Bumblebee was once an important pollinator, especially for early- and late-flowering native plants in southern Ontario, but has now all but vanished. "Despite extensive surveys over the past decade, only three individuals of this distinctive bee have been found, all at one site," the committee said.


The reason remains a mystery but pesticides, disease, parasites, and loss of habitat appear to be affecting pollinators worldwide, it said.


The committee said climate change is increasing the risk of extinction for many species in Western Canada, such as the Whitebark Pine that grows at high elevations in the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain ranges.


"The principal threat to this tree is an infectious fungus called blister rust, but the cumulative impacts of climate change, mountain pine beetle infestations and fire suppression have all contributed to an ongoing population reduction of 70 per cent," said the committee, which has assessed the Whitebark Pine as endangered.


"Climate change is also a contributing factor in the loss of habitat for the charismatic Flammulated Owl, a small bird dependent on the mature coniferous forests of British Columbia's interior regions," it said.


The mountain pine beetle, no longer kept in check by cold winters, is reducing the owl's habitat. "This, in combination with ongoing logging of mature trees and the potential for an increase in catastrophic forest fires, led to a designation of special concern for the owl."


On a more positive note, the committee said the whooping crane is slowing coming back from the brink of extinction. There were only 14 of the birds left in 1938, but close to 250 of the cranes will be heading to its nesting site in Wood Buffalo National Park this year.


While the committee said the crane is still endangered, Hutchings said there is hope it will be "secure" within 10 years.


The crane still faces multiple threats including ongoing degradation of over-wintering habitat along the coast of Texas.


Hutchings couldn't say if the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will compound that risk.


COSEWIC, which is composed of wildlife specialists from across the country, will submit its full assessments to the federal environment minister this summer. There are now 602 wildlife species in various COSEWIC categories, including 262 endangered, 151 threatened, 166 of special concern, and 23 extirpated and no longer found in Canada's wild.