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“The bycatch of threatened eulachon is a major impact to the species that must be stopped through a combination of time and area closures, hard bycatch caps, and gear modifications,” says Enticknap. “It’s also a major source of data showing the location of eulachon at sea that the agency should have used to designate critical habitat.”
Eulachon have historically had great cultural and economic importance in the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska. As a small forage fish, they are also of great ecological importance, preyed upon by numerous marine mammals, seabirds, and fish species including green sturgeon, halibut, rockfishes and salmon.
“The decline of the Pacific eulachon highlights the need for comprehensive protections for forage species. Forage fish are highly susceptible to climate change and fishery impacts, but without healthy forage populations, salmon, whales, dolphins and many other species will suffer,” says Enticknap.
The health and biodiversity of the California Current ecosystem depends on how we manage the food web. Oceana will now consider how to proceed with the government on the issue of critical habitat designation for eulachon and measures to ensure the recovery of this species, in addition to working to improve management for all West Coast forage species.
