Fisheries Committee on Feb. 14th, 2008

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

So the way it works, even fish caught in Alberta and Saskatchewan have to go to....

[Allan Gaudry]

Herring goes to the centralized plant in Transcona.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

So if you wanted to catch some fish, clean them, smoke them, or whatever, locally, adding jobs and adding value, you couldn't do it right now.

[Allan Gaudry]

It's not possible on the marketing end of it, because of the volume we need to produce. As soon as you have that single-desk mandate, you're not allowed to operate unless you have an export permit. The export permit is available, unless you're selling in the same markets as FFMC. They have markets all over, so you can't access the small niche markets.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

So what happens when you catch a bunch of fish the board is not ready to accept? Fish don't keep as well as wheat or barley. Are you allowed to freeze them?

[Allan Gaudry]

No, the sad thing is, it's wasted. That's the sad part of the fishery. There is an opportunity there, and it's sad that this is still happening today.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If there's any time left, I'd like to share it with Mr. Keddy.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

One minute, Mr. Keddy.

[Gerald Keddy, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margaret's, NS]

One minute? We can barely clear our throats in a minute.

I'd like to thank the witness for coming. Maybe I'll pick up on marketing, and if I can ask my question quickly enough, you might have time for an answer.

Part of what we see in the east coast fishery is flash frozen at sea. It requires a bigger boat, but it doesn't require a gigantic boat. I realize that you're a small-boat fishery, but even in a 35-footer you could probably do some of that quick freezing and end up with a better quality product. Are you looking at that at all?

[Allan Gaudry]

Yes. That was discussed at the last meeting of our board of directors. In a lot of these fishing communities, there's no freezing capacity. So the fish are going to be transported. It takes days before it gets to the plant and the quality deteriorates.

A lot of these communities should be able to have the infrastructure to freeze the fish and maintain the quality. But that's going to cost money. And who's going to pay for it? That's the question. Who is going to have the dollars to come forward and offer to build a freezing capacity in the community so that the fish, as it comes in, gets frozen and stored? You can have the product in a week. It doesn't matter: it's stored, it's frozen. It's not a matter of days for it to get to a plant to be processed and frozen. No doubt this would improve the fishery and the quality.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Thank you, Mr. Gaudry.

Thank you, Mr. Keddy.

Our time is up, but I'm going to allow the witness a minute or so to make some closing remarks to the committee before we close off.

[Allan Gaudry]

Thank you for your time. I'm hoping the information I brought forward today will give you some enlightenment on the struggles and challenges we face in the western provinces in our fishery. I'm hoping that someday there will be changes, positive changes, for our fishery and our communities. It's all about jobs and keeping the economy rolling in our communities, and it's been a challenge. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Fabian Manning]

Thank you for your presence here today and for your presentation.

Members of the committee, see you after the break.

The meeting is adjourned.