Evidence of meeting #23 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was boat.
Town Councillor and Fisherman, Bonavista, As an Individual
And they happen away from the community that should be there. What I'm trying to say is that last year this committee met in Bonavista. All right. How many fishermen are there in Gander? I had to get up this morning at five o'clock to drive here to Gander.
What I'm saying is, go out to where the fishermen are too, so we can get our input into it.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
This has already been touched on and I just want to bring it up again. The issue yesterday was that even if you bring in the flexibility that we want in this industry to build the boat that we want, we just can't afford to do it, and we need a bigger catch to do that--in other words, the amount of capital. We were told in Ottawa that one of the reasons they didn't want to do this is that fishermen would over-capitalize--I think that is one of the terms they used--basically they'd borrow too much money that they're unable to pay back, and you know what happens then.
But as Norm Cull pointed out yesterday, they already know that, and therein lies the problem. We had a boat builder yesterday who actually said, look, all our specifications in our buildings and our business are built around regulations, not around an actual business, such as whether you like this boat or prefer this boat, or if this is the type of species you're going after, that's the type of boat you want. It was all built around specifications.
How can this man export a product outside of Canada when they don't have the same regulations, and when in many cases the same regulations don't apply coast to coast--B.C. to Newfoundland and Labrador?
Could I get you to comment on that again, about the fact that to change now is going to be a very expensive endeavour.
Town Councillor and Fisherman, Bonavista, As an Individual
Scott, we're going to have to change because the industry is dictating to us to change. Right now there are fellows who had to go and change their boats. They had to put freezers in their boats and water tanks in their boats to carry the crab, to keep the crab alive. So we're going to have to change.
I'm sick and tired. I've been around a good many tables, sitting down, and I'm sick and tired of this regulation that the government says they've have to put in there. We can't change the footage because a bigger boat means a bigger appetite. But the appetite is up to the fisherman. If DFO comes out and says, guys, listen here, if you want to build a boat 100 feet long, your quota stays as it is.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
So what would you say to them? If you're worried about my going after more fish, you don't need to worry? Is what you're saying?
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
What would you suggest to them instead of restricting your vessel?
Town Councillor and Fisherman, Bonavista, As an Individual
I'm not understanding the question. Come by me again.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
If they're saying to you, look, you have to keep your vessel this size because we fear that you're going to catch more fish, or you're going to keep demanding a bigger catch.
Town Councillor and Fisherman, Bonavista, As an Individual
What would I say to them? I'd say, I made it clear to you that when I made a request to get a bigger boat, I wasn't going to demand any more quota. But if there's something comes on stream, I'll be entitled to get more, just as you'll be able to get more.
I want to stay where I'm to, within quota, but I want a bigger boat. This year I bought a bigger boat; my boat was 37 feet long. She was the old-fashioned trap skiff, and I couldn't do what I wanted to do in her. So I bought a boat that's 39 feet 4 inches long and 17 feet wide, and she's as good as a boat that's 45 feet long. I had to change, but I never got a bigger quota. If it ever comes up where I can get a bigger quota, I'm going to try to get it. But right now I have to stay where I'm to.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
If DFO says to you, we don't think you're conscious of safety...
What's that? You know the rule with me, right? I keep talking until you tell me to shut up.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
All right, sorry.
DFO says to you, look, tomorrow morning we're going to lift all these restrictions and we're going to give you far more flexibility. What do you do then?
Town Councillor and Fisherman, Bonavista, As an Individual
Right now, I do nothing because I already have what I want. I don't know about these gentlemen.
Town Councillor and Fisherman, Bonavista, As an Individual
I'm staying where I'm to, right?
Fisherman, Cottlesville, As an Individual
If I could, I would improve my vessel, and the only way I could do so would be to build a bigger or more stable one.
I'm not concerned about the stability of my boat, but I'm a baby boomer with a son coming tight to my heels who's involved in the fishery. He's been to school and has all his tickets and so on to run boats. Quite frankly, I don't see any future for him.
I think those are the people we should be concerned about right now—those coming behind us. The future for him is that he has to meet all those regulations and get the thing in place. He's going fishing 150 or 200 miles offshore. He needs a larger boat that will make it more stable and more comfortable, so he can make a decent living for himself and his crew members.
Liberal
Fisherman, Twillingate, As an Individual
We're at an age now when we should be looking ahead for the younger people coming up and give them a better environment for their work, instead of getting hung up on regulations and stuff. We're pretty well finished with this racket, right? At least we should put something in place for the people who are coming behind us, to have a safe vessel to work in, right?
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, gentlemen, for coming. I think you've given us some good information that will inform our discussion when we're trying to wrestle with these issues.
My understanding of this is that a few years ago, in 2002-03, DFO conducted a review of its vessel replacement policy and in fact came out with a new policy in 2003. I'm wondering if you're aware of that policy. Were you involved in anything or know what that policy is? Because it did change somewhat. Were you involved in any of that?
Fisherman, Cottlesville, As an Individual
No major changes that I'm aware of.
There has been some movement in that they allow people with licences greater than 45 feet, and they cap the cubic number. They're letting you go to 64 feet 11 inches, but they cap your cube. There was a bit of juggling around, but to my knowledge, they haven't passed the barrier of 64 feet 11 inches yet. That has been there; that's entrenched in stone. Legally, no one has been allowed to move beyond it. If somebody did, it's not with the sanction of the DFO, I will tell you that.
That length problem is still there. It hasn't moved.
Town Councillor and Fisherman, Bonavista, As an Individual
The only other thing I can remember about it is that you had a licence for 34 feet 11 inches, and if it was an old boat, you could buy her up to 39 feet 11 inches, but she had to be an old one. You weren't allowed to bid on a new one.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
My understanding is that it did allow greater flexibility on a fleet-by-fleet basis. There were certain principles that they required to be followed. One of them was that the fleet couldn't increase its capacity by changing the rules. So some adjustments had to be made.
For example, in the maritime region in the shrimp fleet, the fleet did decide that they would change their rule to go beyond the 64 feet 11 inches. So there are boats larger than 65 feet being used there, but they had to agree to allow for that. A certain number of core enterprises had to cease operation.
That was a new policy in 2003. I think it's only in Newfoundland that the 45 feet and the 64 feet 11 inches rule is still strictly in place. So you may want to take a look at that as a fleet to see how this new policy might affect you.
If it were opened up, do you think it's possible that one of the consequences would be more stress on the owner operator policy, which is under stress anyway? In other words, you'd be looking for other investors, and so on, to be able to pay for the new boat that you want. Do you have any comment on that?
