They marshalled a critique of the DFO science and pointed out what they felt were serious flaws in it. Unfortunately, in retrospect, it turns out that wasn't the case. Obviously, in retrospect, things were more accurately reflected by the science from DFO.
But having said that, the minister of the day has to make a decision with what's before him or her. In this case, there were alternative views and those were not just that “I want to keep fishing”, but that “We don't believe the advice provided to you is accurate, for the following specific reasons”.