Finance Committee on May 7th, 2020

[Mitchell Jollimore]

Thank you for the question.

One of the big things is our hired help and ensuring that our crew all have access to EI, so they're going to have to have the earnings. That's one of the things. We have our bait and fuel and we do have expenses with gear. It costs about $4,000 or $5,000 a year to get your gear and your boat ready. As soon as you put your boat in the water, there's insurance for everything as well. When we say about $60,000, that would be our expenses for the duration of the year.

One of the important things to remember is that for those people who are taking out those loans that are at high numbers, that money is going to retirement for some people; that money is spent back into the economy. We want to make sure that the value of those fleets does stay up at those price levels. We want to make sure that the people who are willing to take those risks on are going to be able to get through this kind of downturn and be able to continue to make their payments on those. It's important for the value to be high. That money goes right back into rural communities when it's paid out.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I hear loud and clear that income support is going to be essential to fill that gap. Some sort of low-interest or interest-free loan to help with working capital would cover an additional problem.

I have a final question for the Lobster Council of Canada, if I have time, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

You do. You have a minute.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I'm concerned not only about the market challenges we face this year. Given the uncertainty facing the global marketplace, because of the unpredictable public health emergency facing the world community, I worry this industry which is strategically important to my communities might not be able to sell well into the future if we don't get this under control.

What recommendations do you have? Are there one or two quick pointers you can give to the federal government not only to preserve what's left of this market this season, but also to make sure there's a season to sell into next year?

[Geoff Irvine]

Yes, we need to continue to invest money in marketing and ensure the Canadian lobster brand is front and centre in the whole world. Some of the things we're doing to ensure that we can sell more into retail is a possible option. Those are a couple that quickly come to mind.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

I would invite you to send any follow-up you have to the committee through the clerk.

Thank you so much to everyone for joining us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Thank you, all.

We are turning to Gabriel Ste-Marie and then we'll go to Gord Johns.

Gabriel.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My thanks to the witnesses for their presentations. My first questions are for Mr. Smith, but the other witnesses are of course welcome to add their comments if they have any. Before I ask my question, I'm going to make a comment.

Right now, the fisheries sector is experiencing a great deal of distress because of COVID-19. My understanding is that the programs the government has put in place are not well suited to the fishing industry. That has to change. It is urgent.

Just a few hours ago, my colleague Marilène Gill, the member for Manicouagan, on the north shore, raised this issue during questions to ministers. From what I have heard from the Prime Minister's answers, the government still needs to be pressured so that your industry can have programs that meet your current needs.

Mr. Smith, you mentioned the issue with the U.S. market. Could you elaborate on the importance of exports for your industry and the current issues affecting exports?

[Maxime Smith]

I was referring to snow crab in particular. The U.S. market represents more than 75% of our market. So if there were more right whale incidents and we had to close the fishery, we could lose the U.S. market, not only for this season but also for following seasons because of the Marine Mammal Protection Act. That would be very harmful. That is what I meant.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Okay. Thank you very much.

You also talked about the importance of temporary foreign workers.

What is the current situation? What are the difficulties?

[Maxime Smith]

Right now, applications for temporary permits for foreign workers have to be done. Our workers still have not had access to their work permits. So we still do not have a date for their arrival, at which point they will have to be quarantined.

To an extent, we have had some luck with snow crab, because we have been able to adapt our production, but as everyone here has mentioned, when the lobster fishery starts, that will be a different story. As Mr. Irvine said, there are fresh products and processed products, and the dynamics of the lobster market are completely different from the snow crab market.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Okay. Thank you very much.

According to your information, are foreign governments responsible for the current delays, or is there something that can be done here to speed up the process?

[Maxime Smith]

According to the information I received, we are waiting. Usually, there are no applications for temporary permits for workers, but because of COVID-19, this application has been added. I cannot comment any further. That is the information I have to date.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Okay.

[Maxime Smith]

However, we still don't have a date of arrival and we would like to solve the problem. We would like to have workers so that we can process as much lobster as possible.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

So there is an urgent need for action.

The issue has often been raised: this is a seasonal industry that really goes hand in hand with employment insurance. The current crisis raises major questions about employment insurance. Could you remind us of the fishing industry's requests regarding employment insurance?

[Maxime Smith]

Are you talking about the industry's requests for workers?

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

That's right.

[Maxime Smith]

Right now, we are trying to make sure that the workers in the plant can accumulate all the hours they can. That's why we wanted to start as soon as possible, so that workers can accumulate those hours.

The next step is what concerns us, because we are all sort of dealing with uncertainty here today. Once the lobster fishery starts, we are wondering what the dynamics are going to be for landing the catch, both in the plant and on the market. We know it's going to be a problem, but we don't know to what extent yet.

The labour shortage in plants will certainly impact the fishers. If our plants cannot process the catch, the entire process will slow down and fishers will have to reduce their catches. This will inevitably have an impact on their income.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you.

You talked about right whales. My understanding is that, as soon as you see right whales twice in the same fishing area, that area becomes closed to fishing. You mentioned that the whales arrived two weeks earlier than expected and that the start of the fishing season was delayed because of COVID-19. What could be done about that?

[Maxime Smith]

Let me use the example of the shrimp fishery, which starts on April 1. When sectors are ready to go out to sea, they can go. The same principle could be applied to other species, by opening the fishing season on April 1 and, as soon as a port has no more ice, let the fishers go out so that they can catch as much as possible before the whales arrive, which would limit their interaction with them.

I would like to take this opportunity to say that New Brunswick fishers are working extremely hard to develop ropeless fishing gear. So we are all making progress, although it's going to take time. Until we can have equipment specific to the fishery, however, we should let the fishers go fishing while limiting their interaction with the whales.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay. Thank you, all.

We're turning to Gord Johns for a six-minute round.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I also want to thank all of you for your important leadership in advocating for fishers, for fish harvesters, processors, all those who rely on seafood from coast to coast to coast. Your testimony is very important. Your leadership is very important.

I want to start on the west coast. We know that the government—well, right across our country—has not come up with any relief in its emergency relief package for independent fishers. It came up with some funding for processors, which certainly was important for workers' protections. We know that on the west coast fishers are still reeling from the worst commercial salmon season in recorded history, and they were still waiting for help long before COVID hit.

Mr. McIsaac, can you talk about the economic importance of the industry to coastal communities, and the support the industry provides as an economic driver for coastal communities?

[Jim McIsaac, Vice-President, Pacific, Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters Federation]

Good afternoon, Mr. Johns. Thanks very much for the question.

The industry is incredibly important for coastal communities across the country. In Atlantic Canada the fishing industry is the backbone of the Atlantic Canadian economy. In the Pacific it is the backbone of the fisheries economy here for coastal communities. It is a huge part.

The benefits of fisheries go well beyond just the economic ones. There are huge intangible benefits. The connection to the ecosystem and the broadening of food security to communities are all part of the larger suite of values that fisheries bring to communities.

Yes indeed fisheries are hugely important, not just for the economy but also the intangible social values they bring.