Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. It's certainly a pleasure to be back to review my department's operations. As always, I'll keep my remarks very brief. Those of you who've known me over the years on this committee know I say very little.
You've already introduced my officials. We do have some other people here for the simple reason that usually at committee people have technical questions, questions pertinent to certain divisions of the department, and we try to have people here who can provide an answer. Any we can't provide, we certainly will get to you very quickly.
The last time we met we discussed in some detail a few of the concerns you had about supposed cutbacks in funding and personnel. I trust that between the meeting and the subsequent questions put to my officials last week, you now have the answers you require.
For the record, let me emphasize that overall funding for my department has increased, not decreased. You might have seen that I have had to clarify this fact with the media, since they had picked up particular similar reports, likely stemming from a misunderstanding on how the budgetary and planning cycles work.
This increase includes an additional $99 million to improve critical services in science, fisheries and fish habitat management, and coast guard programs, all of which we can touch on in more detail today.
In British Columbia, for instance, we have increased the number of fisheries enforcement staff from 162 to 176 and have added 12 new habitat monitors, allowing our fisheries officers to focus on their work on the Fraser and in the Pacific coastal areas. That in itself is significant, not only the increase in direct protection officers, but by providing the new habitat officers, our enforcement people can now do the job they were sent out to do rather than having to worry about other aspects.
We have further deployed 27 fishery officer recruits across the Atlantic provinces. This is the first significant recruitment of fishery officers since 2003, and additional recruitment and training is planned for 2007.
That said, there are still changes. How do we protect and promote the commercial fishery both from an ecological and an economic perspective? I don't believe the two to be mutually exclusive, but it is a tremendous balancing act to ensure that both our fish stocks and our stakeholders survive and prosper.
As much as we would like quick fixes, that's just not possible. But that does not mean the situation of the fishery isn't urgent. It is. The economic value of the fishery to Canada is considerable. With exports worth $4.3 billion in 2005 and a recreational fishery—this might just open up eyes, I know it certainly did mine—valued at more than $7 billion. The fishery employs over 100,000 people and remains crucial to the economic prosperity of coastal Canada. But the economic and ecological pressures on the resource also remain intense and challenging.
The fishery must change or it will not survive. It means getting good conservation right, getting governance right, and getting the economics and the infrastructure right.
That leads me to our fisheries renewal agenda. We continue to work hard to cooperate and consult with our provincial and territorial colleagues. As you may recall, last May I participated in the premiers summit in Newfoundland and Labrador, where we discussed a cross-section of complex fisheries issues. That consultation didn't end here. What has now become part of a fishing industry renewal initiative continues as we speak. It will focus on policy renewal and industry restructuring. A follow-up series of consultations will take place with harvesters, processors, and plant workers, and we anticipate their recommendations by year's end.
Incidentally, I also met with my other Atlantic counterparts last July in Charlottetown to discuss the plight of the Northumberland Strait fishers, and just last week I met with my colleagues in Quebec to discuss their unique concerns. The topics on the table included commercialization, processing, and harvesting. We committed at those meetings to identify and implement whatever short-term solutions are possible before the 2007 season.
Before I leave the matter of federal-provincial cooperation, let me share with you two initiatives we have undertaken, one dealing with conservation and the other with economics.
We are committed to conserving and restoring wild Atlantic salmon and its habitat on the Atlantic coast. To that end, we are moving forward on the Atlantic salmon endowment fund, as I announced earlier this month in Fredericton. The fund itself is a $30 million conditional grant that will be invested, and the income earned will be used to support projects that contribute to salmon conservation and restoration.
On the economic side of the fisheries equation, in late October I and my Newfoundland and Labrador counterparts joined representatives of Cooke Aquaculture to announce more than $155 million in funding to establish an aquaculture development project. The DFO share is $4.5 million and comes by way of our aquaculture collaborative research and development program.
This project is expected to triple the province's salmon production and create over 2,000 full-time, year-round direct jobs as well as additional indirect jobs in the aquaculture processing, supply, and service sectors. I should mention it's in the riding of my colleague from Burin--Burgeo along the coast, where they've been hit extremely hard over the last couple of years, and it could be turned around in that area. This investment is exactly the type of shot in the arm this area needs and will create the critical mass necessary to position the aquaculture industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Of course, cooperation and consultation are no less important on the international front. I was in Iceland and Norway two weeks ago to speak to the never-ending fight against illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the North Atlantic. We also discussed how to ensure decisions are based on science and how NAFO might integrate precautionary- and ecosystem-based approaches into its decision-making. And we had lengthy conversations on the fishery we share, and that's the seal fishery.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to say a few words about science renewal, our oceans agenda, small craft harbours, and coast guard modernization.
The need for sound scientific advice is critical to my department and our government. We have invested an additional $15.5 million in science to get a clearer picture of what's happening to fish and fish habitat. We believe in the role of sound science as a way to better inform our fisheries habitat and oceans management decisions.
DFO will continue to lead the implementation of the government-wide oceans action plan to advance integrated oceans management in Canada's Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic oceans. To that end, the department established regional implementation committees in each of the OAP priority areas and I announced the smart bay demonstration project to showcase Canada's oceans technology expertise.
We also recognize the importance of providing commercial fishers with solid infrastructure through the small craft harbours program. I will continue working to maintain this important program, while realizing there are many funding pressures.
Last, Mr. Chairman, I want to ensure that the people who work so hard in the coast guard to keep us safe have what they need to do their jobs. We have already increased funding by $45 million per year, in addition to the more than $270 million dedicated to fleet renewal. And we will proceed with the aids to navigation for the 21st century initiative to provide the right combination of conventional and electronic aids to help stakeholders and members of the public safely navigate our waters.
I mentioned a couple of hundred jobs, to start with, on the south coast, but we've been told estimates of anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000--even up to 8,000--in aquaculture in Atlantic Canada, and particularly on the south coast of Newfoundland. That's pretty positive stuff.
Thank you for listening, Mr. Chair. We would be pleased to take any questions.
