Evidence of meeting #32 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 science.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Atlantic Region, World Wildlife Fund Canada
— and it's well into December
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS
Going back to the science, I appreciate your comments on the science. You believe the information is there. There's an understanding on the part of DFO science that we have to change our thinking. What you're talking about is really a shift in the entire paradigm in how we manage our oceans.
Is there a best example off our shores? Is there somebody who's getting it right and taking an ecosystem management approach to their fisheries?
12:55 p.m.
Vice-President, Atlantic Region, World Wildlife Fund Canada
There are two good examples, and I mentioned them briefly. It's in our report on ecosystem-based management. This is a report we commissioned from Dr. Andrew Rosenberg, an internationally renowned fisheries expert. We had him do two reports, one on bycatch and then on what we do about ecosystem-based management for the NAFO area, but it was also quite broad. The two models that I recommend Canada follow--the scientists, they know this stuff, they go to the meetings--are the southern ocean, the Antarctic Ocean, which is actually an RFMO like NAFO, but it's the top of the heap in terms of our RFMOs, and is called CCAMLR, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, and the other is in Alaska, the North Pacific. They're doing a very good job on ecosystem-based management, and it's paying off economically for the harvesters.
You remind me of another important point, and I haven't said very much about industry and some good news coming from industry. It is very much, actually, a part of how we work. We like to say we work from local to global--in other words, from the local area right up to global influence.
We have partnerships with a number of fishing industries, and what we're finding—and something I've said, for example, to the folks in Newfoundland—is that there are so many good news stories out there about individuals taking on stewardship issues, trying to make it happen in their bay or local area, that we should be getting these out and trying to propagate some of these. You're well familiar probably with Eastport, for example, closing that area for lobster, but there are lots of other really good initiatives.
So part of this can happen as big science ecosystem, understanding the ecosystem and changing that paradigm shift you're talking about, but we also have to encourage the stewardship and local initiatives that come up from fishermen who really care what's going on in their backyard, so to speak. I think there are some good examples.
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gerald Keddy
Thank you very much, Mr. Rangeley. It was an interesting discussion today. We appreciate you coming before committee, and I'm sure there are further questions that some of my colleagues may have. They'll have to take them up with you later.
In the meantime, you mentioned two reports. At least one of those reports we don't have. But if you could table those with our clerk, we'd appreciate it, and we could get those out to our membership.
Thanks very much.