All right, I'll slow down.
The proposed regulations as we have them today would cost him $68,000. When he took his vessel to the naval architect, which was commissioned by the Province of New Brunswick, he thought it would be in the neighbourhood of $45,000. He was quite shocked to find that it would be more like $68,000. That's staggering. It's not affordable. This example is real, and it's a fine example of the regulations and the impact that will have on our fishing industry. We've listed in the presentation all of the associations that have put forward their letters of concern.
During our meeting, Lisa did an overview of the review of the Transportation Safety Board statistics. In that review, the statistical summary of marine occurrences for 2004 noted that marine accidents reached a 29-year low in 2004. A large portion of the marine accidents involve fishing vessels. This is due in part to the fact that fishing vessels play a large part in the number of vessels within Canada. The other thing that's not quantified by the TSB that's quite important is that we don't have a sense of what that relates to in fishing days. We have only the accidents, so it's hard to quantify exactly how that works out.
After studying the types of shipping accidents on average, the most common type is due to grounding. Striking would be a close second, followed by flooding, and fire and explosion. In looking at shipping accidents by region, the maritime region hosts 23% of shipping accidents, second behind the western region.
It was noted that fishing vessel accidents dominated the accident record in these areas. It was reported by the TSB that, compared to the 1999-2003 average, fishing vessels involved in shipping accidents showed a decrease in 2004 in both the western and maritime regions.
Preliminary marine occurrence statistics for 2005 showed a reduction in marine accidents, from 492 in 2004 to 480 in 2005. In reviewing the current marine investigations started in 2004 and 2005, of the marine reports released, 10 of the 36 were fishing vessels and only one vessel was from the maritime region, which was due to grounding.
The TSB has made recommendations based on its findings to a number of investigations and reports in the 2004-05 year. One of the reports was a highly publicized incident of the Cap Rouge II, which happened in the Fraser River in British Columbia, and the TSB put forward a number of recommendations to Transport Canada.
It recommended that:
The Department of Transport, in collaboration with the fishing community, reduce unsafe practices by means of a code of best practices for small fishing vessels, including loading and stability, and that its adoption be encouraged through effective education and awareness programs.
Really, I don't think anybody in the fishing industry disagrees with that. It's the next step that comes from that.
The TSB also stated in its recommendations that:
The Department of Transport require all new inspected small fishing vessels of closed construction to submit stability data for approval.
It stated as well that:
The Department of Transport require all existing inspected small fishing vessels currently without any approved stability data be subjected to a roll period test and a corresponding freeboard verification not later than their next scheduled quadrennial inspection.
As to the current state of the small fishing vessel regulations, George, Lisa, and I have just come back from Ottawa last night, from the national CMAC meeting. Currently, the regulations are on hold. Transport Canada has commissioned three studies that will address the proposed small fishing vessel regulations, and in particular the stability issue.
The evaluation of risk factors is being considered by one consultant. A national risk assessment on the stability requirements for small commercial fishing vessels less than 24 metres in length overall is being considered, and a benefit-cost analysis and a RIAS for fishing vessel regulations are also being looked at. Results of these reports will be incorporated into the proposed regulations.
Our conclusions and recommendations regarding the subject are as follows.
The maritime region is host to a number of coastal communities through the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. The fishing industry is an economic driver in these areas and offers numerous direct and indirect employment opportunities.
Over the last few years, Transport Canada has consulted with the industry on proposed regulatory changes being put forward in the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.
Various forums such as outreach sessions, CMAC, and working group sessions have had strong participation from the fishing communities across the maritime region. Comments and recommendations have been put forward by industry with regard to the proposed fishing vessel safety regulations, and in particular the stability initiative. There has been a strong message from our region that the proposed stability regulations are unjust for fishing vessels of the inshore fleet and that the economic impact would be substantial.
The most recent ship safety bulletin, which...actually, since we wrote this we found out there is a draft of a new ship safety bulletin. But currently, the one that's in effect, which was 04/2006, called “Safety of Small Fishing Vessels: Information to Owners/Masters about Stability Booklets”, is of great concern to fishermen. The timing of the release was extremely discouraging to fishermen. On initial assessment of the bulletin, the financial cost to fishermen to obtain a stability booklet is enormous and unnecessary for most fishing vessels. A number of the risk factors listed in the bulletin are clearly open to interpretation and debate.
Transport Canada is moving toward a risk-based approach when assessing the need for stability analysis. Based on historical performance data from both fishermen and the TSB, fishing vessels in the maritime region do not present a stability risk and should not be subjected to unreasonable stability analysis.
The statistics put forward by TSB do not warrant such a drastic change to the regulations such as the one that Transport Canada and the ship safety bulletin are pushing. The fishing industry identifies safety at sea as a priority, and to effectively educate industry on stability, awareness is needed, not more regulations.
The fishing industry in the maritime regions supports the development and delivery of stability awareness, workshops, and tools. Government needs to invest in such a proposed initiative. This is much more focused and will create buy-in from the fishing industry, and it will satisfy both fishermen and the regulatory bodies, such as Transport Canada and TSB, for an interest in a safe and viable fishery.
Before I close, I want to say there were a number of developments at the national meeting in Ottawa. One of them is directly related to how we've come here today, about the boat length and the tie-in to the stability.
The Departments of Fisheries and Oceans and Transport Canada signed a memorandum of understanding at the meeting, and we've not had a lot of discussion with the departments that have been, to use, the right word, serious at those meetings about how cut-offs from Transport and cut-offs from DFO don't line up. So we really haven't come prepared today to speak to those issues, because in some ways it's a separate day on the boat length issue as opposed to the stability issue. Both of those topics are serious, but right now Transport and DFO are only just coming together to begin that discussion. I wanted to end on that. We're hoping those things will come forward in a way that puts industry at the table with them, to have reasonable discussions about where we go from here.
