History of Canadian Fisheries Management with Noel d’Etremont, Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO)

PART 1 – Early Days in Canadian Fisheries Management

Noel talks about being in his first year working for DFO and searching for history. He found Managing Canada’s Fisheries: from early days to the year 2000. If you are interested, you can download that book HERE.

Noel shares the following thought: “The purse seine is probably the most efficient piece of fishing gear that we have out there, and if we consider ‘efficient’ as what can catch the most fish”

Do you think this definition of efficiency could be improved? Does it pretend that catching fish happens in a vacuum or a bubble, with no effect?

Take a quick break, get some water, and think about what Noel has been sharing. What questions do you have?

PART 2 – Later Years up until Today

In this video, Noel gives an overview of the latter part of fisheries management in Canada.

He talks about how the purse seine, an ocean-floor destroying net, and how it was banned in Canada a hundred years ago. What is the state of purse seining now in Canada?

What do we do if the most destructive fishing practices are the most lucrative financially?

Perhaps we need to look to the context, a local economy already destroyed by corporate profit-seeking, to explain why fishers must take all they can get today. Perhaps they are already captured by the increased influence of these corporations on local economies.

Perhaps fishers would be interested in collaborating with restoration efforts if there was a system that rewarded restoration, just as our current system rewards overfishing and destruction of the Passamaquoddy Territorial ecosystem.

What kind of new economy or social system would you create that would solve these problems? Spend 15 minutes building that system in your imagination.

Noel d’Etremont Bio

Noel d’Entremont has always had a passion for conservation and the outdoors, which led him to attend the Maritimes Forest Ranger School in 2003. He is currently with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as the Area Director for South West New Brunswick. While currently based in St George, Noel joined DFO in 2006 as a Fishery Officer in Meteghan, Nova Scotia. Over his 18 years with DFO, he has held many roles, such as Field Supervisor, Detachment Supervisor, and Area Chief of Conservation and Protection.