B.C. herring fishery ends for another season, controversy over catch continues
VICTORIA — Commercial fishing boats on the B.C. coast have returned to their home ports after a successful spring herring roe fishery in the Strait of Georgia off Vancouver Island, but opponents of the catch are already gearing up for next season.
The threat of overfishing and the impact a herring population collapse could have on British Columbia’s marine ecosystem, particularly chinook salmon and southern resident killer whales, has conservation, environmental and some Indigenous groups demanding an indefinite suspension of the fishery.
“It’s just a matter of time before the Strait of Georgia herring collapses and all those boats are forced to wait at the dock,” said Ian McAllister, executive director of Pacific Wild, which called for the suspension of the roe herring fishery this year.