Fisheries Committee on March 4th, 2008

[Patrice Leblanc]

Yes.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Could the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, at some point, propose that a program be created to study all the assumptions concerning eelgrass?

[Patrice Leblanc]

I would have to put that question to the scientists in another division at the department. I could obtain an answer from the science sector and forward it to you.

[Jean-Yves Roy, Bloc, Haute-Gaspésie—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

The solution lies in increasing the body of knowledge.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Thank you.

Mr. Calkins.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I certainly appreciate what I've heard here today. I'm going to ask a few scientific questions.

I'm curious about the eelgrass. It's a rhizome, is that correct? At the nodes on the rhizome stem, are there tubers or anything like that on this particular species of eelgrass or whatever is there?

[Lizon Provencher]

Indeed, eelgrass grows and extends through rhizomes, and for each rhizome, the stems grow out of the sediment. This is also a mode of propagation. Stems can grow by way of seeds and through the so-called vegetative propagation process, where the rhizomes extend within the sediment and expand the eelgrass surfaces. That is the most common form. It can also propagate by way of seeds, but the most common form is through vegetative propagation, i.e., through the spread of rhizomes.

Does that answer your question?

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

It does. If you don't have the stems or the flowers coming up, you're not going to have the seed production. Therefore, if the eelgrass is going to come back, we could assume it is going to have to come back from the rhizomes that are dormant in the silt or in the soil underneath the water, the benthic part of the shallow water. I'm wondering, do we know how long these rhizomes can remain dormant and come back?

[Lizon Provencher]

That depends on the intensity of the disaster, if you will. For example, there was a major decline in the 1930s. The rhizomes were torn out or destroyed, and died out. It took about 30 years before they grew back. As well, we are talking about a very large area. There were no beds in the vicinity and no great likelihood that new seeds could be reintroduced into the area.

I really have no idea what is currently happening in James Bay. We do not know what the situation really is. Are there rhizomes dormant in the sediment? That seems possible because I heard that there were still some stems to be found. There probably still are rhizomes living in the sediment. If that is the case, it will take time to reconstitute the larger beds. The smaller the rhizomes, the more sensitive they are to the hydrodynamics. If there are strong currents or waves, then the eelgrass is located in areas with a very high flow characterization. Small rhizomes have a harder time settling and growing in areas where there is a lot of current. Once they have settled and gained strength, the process accelerates.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Now I have a question dealing with migratory birds.

Mr. Elliot, you indicated that the brant and some of the migratory birds have moved to the west side of James Bay in search of forage. Do we have any information on this? Obviously this is putting some stress on the migratory birds as their typical migration routes are changed somewhat on their path to their nesting grounds and on their return to their wintering grounds. Do we have any information on whether or not this has affected the overall population?

[Richard Elliot]

We know that even geese like brant geese, which are tied to eelgrass, have some flexibility. As a result of that change in the 1930s, we know their overall migration pattern has changed significantly and has caused them to funnel more through the James Bay area. We know they are able to adapt and modify their migration habits.

We've looked into your question a little bit, and I will ask Dr. Reed what he and his counterparts, who have looked at the situation on the Ontario side, think may be happening.

[Dr. Austin Reed]

I think from time immemorial, the brant have used both sides of the James Bay coast. The information we do have going back, perhaps, to the 1930s or 1940s, or the kinds of anecdotal information available from then, suggests that the favoured areas were along the east coast of James Bay, where there are dense eelgrass beds. There is some eelgrass on the Ontario side, but we don't have good information on it; all we know is that it's far less abundant, or at least was far less abundant, on the Ontario coast. But there are other habitats.

Perhaps one of the big advantages of James Bay as a migratory stop-off area for geese is that there is a variety of habitats. Amongst the habitats available in James Bay, in addition to the eelgrass beds, is another habitat we call salt marsh meadows or salt marshes. There are patches of it along the Quebec coast, small pockets of it, and there are also huge pockets along the Ontario coast. The food the brant can get out of that habitat is the same food as they can get on their breeding grounds.

When they're on their breeding grounds, they are beyond the northern limit of eelgrass, so they don't have any access to eelgrass when they are breeding in the Canadian Arctic, but they do have access to the same plant that is growing on the upper levels of the tidal area near the eelgrass beds. So there is potentially an alternative source of food for them in these marshes. That could explain what we feel has occurred in the last decade or so, when the birds have tended to use the west side of James Bay more frequently than in the past, at the expense of using the Quebec coast of James Bay.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Thank you.

My last question is a DFO-related question.

Obviously Hydro-Québec would have gone through all of the necessary permitting with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for the river alterations, and everything else, from the hydroelectric projects. I'm assuming that during part of that consultation, or part of that process, there would have been pre-level biophysical inventories taken of fish species, their quantities, where they are present, and so on. Right now there should be some post-biophysical inventories of fish species populations, and so on, with the baseline data and the aftermath data.

I'm wondering who has that information. I think we alluded to it a little bit earlier, but is that information available through DFO, or who owns that information?

[Patrice Leblanc]

The baseline information collected for the environmental impact assessment or environmental impact statement under the EA process that we participated in would be found in the EIA, the document itself, and would be available to both Fisheries, Environment, and all members of the community. I assume it was provided during the panel review process. So the baseline information is one aspect of it.

Any conditions for monitoring would be within the confines of the authorization under subsection 35(2) of the Fisheries Act. We would have the plans that are supposed to be submitted by Hydro-Québec to DFO. They would undertake any follow-up monitoring required to assess the accuracy of the prediction, as well as the effect on any mitigation or compensation measures that we put into the approval process.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

My last question, quickly, is whether you had a chance to see this map that was presented to us in the first part of the briefing. It shows the status for eelgrass diminution and augmentation for 1987 to 1995. There were a few questions asked in the previous round of questions for our previous witnesses as to where this was in proximity to the river, and so on. I believe the answer we got was that this was about a 40-kilometre stretch of the east coast of James Bay.

My question to you is whether this is representative of the entire eelgrass situation along the east coast. Is there anybody here who can answer whether or not this is an actual representative sample of the eelgrass beds along the east coast of James Bay?

[Dr. Austin Reed]

My understanding is that this map covers the general area to the north and to the south of the entry of the La Grande River into James Bay. Is that correct?

I guess, as Mr. Penn said, it covers the area Hydro-Québec had projected the flume of fresh water flow would cover. In that sense it covers the area that might be affected by changes in flow out of La Grande River, but isn't necessarily representative of what might be happening further south along the coast, all the way down to Rupert Bay.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Thank you, Mr. Calkins.

Thank you to our guests. If either of our guests would like to make a closing comment, you have the opportunity to do so now.

[Patrice Leblanc]

No.

[Richard Elliot]

No. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Thank you once again. It's been an interesting discussion.

We'll take a two-minute break and then we'll come back to take care of a bit of committee business before we close.

Thank you very much.

[Proceedings continue in camera]