Thank you and good morning.
Thank you for the invitation to appear today. It's a pleasure to be here in person. If I may be so bold, perhaps you saved the best for the last session of your consultations.
The last time FCC appeared before this committee was in 2018, and I believe it was our inaugural appearance before FINA.
The Fisheries Council of Canada is a national association representing the wild capture processors across the country, all of whom harvest as well. My remarks today will focus on three topics. These are fisheries science, seafood innovation and indigenous reconciliation, and I'll briefly highlight why those matter to us.
Canada has a good reputation for how it manages its fish resources. In addition to our robust regulatory regime, 60% of Canada's fisheries are third party-certified to ensure that the product is sustainably sourced. This puts us second in the world among large nations for our share of landings that are certified.
Unfortunately, this is being undermined by a lack of resources to conduct the foundational fisheries science that underpins sustainable fisheries management. DFO resources for core fish stock assessment science have not kept pace with competing interests or assessment complexities.
In the east, fish surveys are not being maintained, and data gaps of multiple years exist that could result in overly precautionary decisions, despite the stocks being in good health. In the case of turbot in the eastern Arctic, this situation could potentially cost the industry tens of millions of dollars of annual revenue.
In the west, stock assessments modelling the health of the stocks have been lacking. In the case of our wild Pacific salmon fisheries, this has resulted in losing our independent eco-certification. This also means losing major investments into a sustainable program. Global markets look for the Marine Stewardship Council certification. Losing this certification can have devastating effects on the hard work done to build the market and labelling required to continue in the program, and it puts Canadian fish and seafood at a market disadvantage with consumers seeking confidence that it is sustainably sourced.
The cost of conducting fisheries science is much less than the economic consequence of not doing so. You could say that investing in fisheries science has an economic multiplier effect, which benefits coastal communities.
On this topic, we made a number of recommendations, but the most important action you can take as a committee is to recommend an increase in funding resources for fisheries science in support of management decision-making. We don't have a specific dollar recommendation, but the fisheries committee is soon to release a report that may provide more clarity on what is needed.
Moving to the next topic, the federal government continues to consider its next steps in the blue economy strategy. To support Canada's seafood sector to achieve the very best sustainable growth and production, further integrated support for innovation and technology deployment is increasingly important.
The sector—both wild capture and aquaculture—has a joint vision, which is for the sector to be one of the top three global best quality and most sustainable seafood producers by 2040.
Investment in ocean proteins is a smart investment. The High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy has concluded that such investments carry a ten-to-one benefit ratio and connect with all priorities of this government, including environmental, health, social and economic priorities. Canada would do well to further support this foundational sector for rural, coastal and indigenous communities across Canada.
The growth envisioned for the wild capture fisheries is by increasing value rather than volume. Market-driven innovation of operations and optimizing utilization are the path to this growth. Existing innovation funding programs are due to expire in 2023 and 2024. We ask that these investments be renewed.
Lastly, on indigenous reconciliation, the government wants to see increased indigenous participation in the sector. To achieve this, it has a policy of “willing buyer, willing seller”, which confirms compensation to the incumbent licence-holder for lost access. However, we have received conflicting reports on whether DFO has the funds to actually do this. Indigenous reconciliation is a national priority and one that all Canadians should contribute toward, not just individual licence-holders. No one—not even my indigenous members—believes that involuntary relinquishment of access is the approach to follow.
Industry is advancing reconciliation on its own. Where DFO wants more, it must compensate licence-holders to respect past investments made and not hinder future investments.
Thank you. I look forward to questions.