Just Fish : Ethics and Canadian Marine Fisheries

Canada’s fisheries sink into crisis as collapsing cod and salmon stocks imperil coastal livelihoods. An interdisciplinary team investigates the ethical, social, and environmental failures behind overexploitation. Their study calls for rethinking policies to protect both marine life and fishing communities.

Today in Canada, the fish stocks of both the east and west coasts are in serious trouble. The once-great cod stocks have collapsed; the Fraser River salmon stocks seem to have done likewise. Coastal communities are in crisis. The majority of the great world fisheries are seriously over-exploited, and some bodies of water are effectively dead. The problem has to lie with the manner in which we run our fisheries. The issue is ethical as well as social and environmental. A team of humanists, natural scientists, and social scientists came together to examine the question of justice in the Canadian fisheries and to seek an ethical foundation upon which to base guidelines for fisheries policies and decision-making in the future. Just Fish, the result of their work, argues that Canada could - and must - become a world leader in developing fisheries management institutions that can protect the legitimate interests of both fish and the fishers who depend upon them.