Ottawa - Environmental Commissioner Jerry Demarco said in a new review published on Tuesday that the federal government is biased against listing commercially valuable fish as endangered species in need of protection.

The review of Canada's efforts to protect endangered aquatic species was one of six new environmental reports presented in the House of Commons.

It found that Fisheries and Oceans Canada was very slow to act when the national committee responsible for assessing whether species need protection declares a certain aquatic creature or plant at risk.

When this assessment concerns fish of high commercial value, it seems the administration's shortcomings oppose listing the fish as needing special protection.

This includes populations of Atlantic cod in Newfoundland and Labrador. Overfishing led to the halt of commercial cod fishing in Newfoundland in 1992, and since then, the committee on endangered wildlife in Canada has assessed it as "endangered."

Meaning it faces an imminent risk of extinction. Once this assessment is made, Fisheries and Oceans Canada must review the assessment and determine whether the species will be listed for special protection under the Species at Risk Act. Listing endangered species would prevent them from being killed, harmed, harassed, or captured.

The first assessment of Newfoundland cod came in 2003, and it took three years for Fisheries and Oceans to review the results. In 2006, the federal administration decided not to add it to the Species at Risk Act list and allowed some shore fishing and harvesting by Indigenous peoples to continue.

In 2010, the committee assessed Newfoundland cod for the second time. After twelve years, Fisheries and Oceans had not completed the review to determine what should be done with this assessment.

DeMarco’s review examined nine fish, two mussels, and a sea turtle, which the endangered wildlife committee considered needing protection. Five of the fish were marine species of high commercial value, and in all five cases, the administration chose not to list the fish as endangered species.

This includes Newfoundland cod, the bull trout, Okanagan populations of Chinook salmon, yelloweye rockfish, and bluefin Atlantic tuna. The other four fish, whether mussels or big-headed sea turtles, were not of high commercial value, and all seven were recommended for listing as endangered by Fisheries and Oceans. DeMarco also found that the department took a long time to complete its own reviews.

He said Fisheries and Oceans had not finished its review for half of the 230 aquatic species recommended by the wildlife committee to be classified as endangered since the Species at Risk Act came into effect in 2004.

Moreover, the department was found to have significant gaps in what it knows about species needing protection, and there are not enough staff to enforce protections once established.

DeMarco said in a written statement, "The bias against protecting commercially valuable species under the Species at Risk Act, significant delays in listing species for protection, knowledge gaps about species, and limited enforcement capacity all negatively impact ecosystems and communities."

The fall audits conducted by the commissioner also looked into policies for managing low- and medium-risk radioactive waste, which accounts for 99.5 percent of all radioactive waste in Canada.

DeMarco said that Natural Resources Canada, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and Atomic Energy of Canada do a good job managing waste.                                     Edited by: Yusra Bamtraf