Fisheries Committee on Oct. 31st, 2006

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

I would like to follow up on that.

We're dealing with cold-blooded critters. As I understand it--we talked to one of the retired DFO scientists, and this was his specialty--and you can correct me if I'm wrong, they have a preferred operating temperature when they're migrating. They can feed in any temperature, basically, but when migrating, if I remember right, they prefer about six degrees centigrade. Anyway, they're suggesting that the six-degree temperature that used to be abundant along the Georgia Strait and along the coast of Vancouver Island coming back to the Fraser River has now moved up the coast. So these fish have to potentially migrate through hundreds of kilometres of water that is outside their preferred operating temperature. They arrive fatigued and with a lot of their life force already spent.

Would you agree with that assessment?

[Paul Sprout]

That's certainly a consideration. In fact, just to enlarge on that, when Pacific salmon enter marine water, they then migrate thousands of kilometres to the north Pacific Ocean. In that process, they feed and grow, and then they return. If ocean temperatures are increasing, Pacific salmon will try to avoid those warm temperature conditions, so they will migrate farther. They have to be able to consume more to return to fresh water and the mouth of the Fraser River. So that's a problem. They only have so much fat reserves. Once they're exhausted, those fish can't spawn. That's the one issue.

The second issue is that when they move into the Fraser River, they experience extraordinarily high temperatures. We had conditions this year of 21 degrees celsius--23 degrees is lethal. When they enter into 21 degree waters, they're stressed. If they stay any length of time in 21 degrees, they accumulate impacts they cannot recover from.

We have to look in a forward-looking way when we manage the Pacific salmon, particularly these southerly located populations. That really brings into question how we manage, and what kinds of buffers we put in and so forth, because of these environmental circumstances.

[James Lunney, Conservative, Nanaimo—Alberni, BC]

Very interesting.

Can I have one more?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gerald Keddy]

You're over time. You can ask him afterwards. I'm sure you will have time to get another question in.

I appreciate your coming, Mr. Sprout.

Thanks to our committee members who stayed until the last gun fired. I appreciate it.

For Thursday's meeting, in this room, we have the Acadian Regional Federation of Professional Fishermen and the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

For the benefit of members who are still here, I think there was a request to have a room with a camera for the next time the minister comes. I don't know how we've made out on that yet. We have a new clerk, who's trying to figure out the agenda as we go along. I think she's doing a great job, though.

We will plan to have the next meeting in this room again.

Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.