Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good afternoon. My name is Jaspinder Komal. I am the executive director of the animal health directorate at CFIA and also the chief veterinary officer.
My remarks will be very brief. I appreciate your invitation to be here today and for giving me the opportunity to speak to the recommendations in the commissioner's latest report on salmon farming as they pertain to the CFIA.
The spring 2018 reports of the CESD make eight recommendations related to managing risks associated with Canadian salmon aquaculture in a manner that protects wild fish. I'll be focusing my comments on the single recommendation that relates to the CFIA. I will address what the CFIA is doing in response, but for now let me talk a bit about the CFIA's role.
The CFIA is a science-based regulatory agency. Our business stems from a very broad mandate that encompasses food safety, animal health, plant protection, and market access.
Safeguarding food and the health of animals is essential to enhance the health and well-being of Canada's people, environment and economy.
The CFIA is committed to protecting wild and farmed aquatic animals in Canada, and is responsible for preventing the introduction or spread of aquatic animal diseases from finfish, molluscs, and crustaceans, which have the potential to seriously impact aquatic animal health, the Canadian economy, and international trade.
As the report itself points out, the CFIA and Fisheries and Oceans Canada co-deliver the national aquatic animal health program, with Fisheries and Oceans Canada's contribution being that of laboratory expertise. Under the national aquatic animal health program, the CFIA has the lead role for activities such as monitoring the presence of disease, declaring the official disease status of bodies of water, controlling the movement of aquatic animals between bodies of water of different status, and responding to outbreaks of disease as appropriate.
I will now address the recommendation.
The recommendation made in the CESD report is that the CFIA and Fisheries and Oceans Canada should clarify their roles and responsibilities for managing emerging disease risks to mitigate the potential impacts of salmon farming on wild fish.
We welcome the CESD report on salmon farming and its conclusions on how to improve salmon aquaculture governance in Canada.
We are already working on these measures.
The CFIA and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are in the process of developing a formal process to evaluate emerging aquatic animal diseases, and to decide the roles of the two federal entities with regard to such diseases in order to protect wild fish. Technical staff working at the agency and at Fisheries and Oceans Canada began engaging this fiscal year, 2018-19, with implementation to take place by April 2019.
Thank you.