NS: CBU and DFO sign MOU in CB

[SYDNEY, NS] — Cape Breton University’s Bras d’Or Institute has renewed a partnership with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that involves looking at the impact that activities in, on and around the ocean have on it. Officials with CBU and DFO signed a second three-year memorandum of understanding Monday.

“In Cape Breton, as an island and an island with an inland sea, everything that we do on the land quite quickly ends up affecting the ocean in one way or another,” said Bruce Hatcher, chair of marine ecosystem research at CBU.

There is a changing relationship with the ocean, he said, which is becoming more respectful as people realize that it’s not an unlimited supply of resources. As CBU and DFO look to exploit a resource that hasn’t been harvested before, they don’t just look at its health but how its removal will affect other things that live there. “There are and will be academic papers in learned journals that will come from this work about the secret lives of snails or something, but those really are secondary to the practical applications, that is the application of independently collected, no-vested-interest information to important decision making.”

As an example of how they worked together under the first MOU, Hatcher referred to research into the sustainability of a hagfish or slime eel fishery. He noted it would fall under DFO’s new emerging fisheries policy, which requires research be done before permission for the fishery is granted. “Those stages depend strongly on a scientific understanding of how fast the fish grows, how many of them are, what that fish does in the ocean, what its role is in the ocean ecosystem,” Hatcher said.

The policy states that research isn’t DFO’s responsibility but that of the fishermen who want to harvest it, with those fishermen seeking a partnership with CBU. DFO then has the authority to regulate who can hunt for the species, as well as where and when.

Three reports on hagfish were produced and as a result, a company that was interested in the species decided it wasn’t a viable option because the amount of fish it would have to catch at the available price didn’t justify it. “They’ve saved themselves a lot of money by stepping back and saying, ‘We’re not going to continue to invest in the gear and the experimental fishing because the science suggests that this really is not going to be a sustainable fishery around here in Cape Breton at the present time,’” Hatcher said.

Faith Scattolon, regional director general with DFO, noted its science program is based out of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, and being able to partner with a body like CBU to conduct field programs and research is very useful. “When we can partner with an institute that’s here locally and can work with industry and work with our own scientists, then we develop synergies, we develop economies of scale that if we went and tried to do the work on our own, we wouldn’t really achieve (it),” she said, adding the local perspective of fishermen, industry associations and First Nations is important. “It gives us an opportunity to put our resources into the work. CBU brings resources to the work, as does industry in situations like this.”

DFO and CBU officials met Monday in advance of signing the new MOU to discuss areas on which to focus over the next three years. Hatcher said those directions include the search for new fisheries; integrated coastal management, primarily around the Bras d’Or Lakes ecosystem; and the impact of further development at the port facilities in Sydney harbour and the increase in shipping that would come with it. He noted they’ve recently completed a study attempting to place a value on Sydney harbour to Cape Breton’s fishing community. That can help guide the development, minimize negative effects and maximize positive effects on the fishing community, Hatcher said, adding the development isn’t primarily seen as a negative thing for the fishery.

The work also provides learning opportunities for student researchers, Hatcher said.