Evidence of meeting #27 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was little.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
How long have you yourselves been part of the authority? It's been about ten years now?
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Have you been involved in that full-time yourself? Do you have elections on a regular basis?
Presenter, Naufrage Harbour Authority
We've all been at various times.... Right now, this is the executive here. They brought me along because I talk a lot slower than everybody else does.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
That is helpful.
There was one thing we heard the other day in Newfoundland from the people who are doing it now. One woman from Fogo Island was very impressive when I asked the question, who's going to take over when you decide to leave? That's always the question. If government invests x number of dollars in a particular harbour, of course you have to figure out whether the money should go over here, over to Annandale, or to North Rustico. The last thing I'd like to see is harbour authorities, people who are friends in a competitive industry like fishing, having to fight each other for the same dollar.
Presenter, Naufrage Harbour Authority
I have two sons who would very much like to take over. Where we're located, the harbours on either side are about 20 miles away, so if you want to fish these grounds you'd almost have to be at our harbour. At Annandale, for example, they have other harbours very close to where they are, two or three miles across the river. I'm not picking on them, but we see ourselves as being a more or less essential location. The next one to us is Morell, and that is probably 17 or 18 miles away, or North Lake, which is a similar distance.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
Right.
You also had indicated that Jim Morriscey—and you're right—is a really decent fellow. Who do you bring your concerns to now?
Chairman, Naufrage Harbour Authority
This winter has been really a difficult winter, in that Jim's position hasn't been filled as of yet, and they're short-staffed in there. And there's one out on sick leave, so it does put you.... I'm 10 to 15 days away from going fishing myself, and as the president of the harbour authority, I have to make sure that everything is done, and really there aren't a lot of people to talk to.
NDP
NDP
Chairman, Naufrage Harbour Authority
We have one fellow from Moncton there right now who is filling in.
NDP
Peter Stoffer NDP Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS
I assume that your rapport not with Jim but with other folks on the ground here locally is pretty good--your rapport with them, your ability to work with them and offer suggestions and so on. We heard in Newfoundland that the relationship between small craft harbours personnel and DFO personnel and the harbour authority for fishermen is actually pretty good.
Chairman, Naufrage Harbour Authority
Yes, it hasn't been too bad up until this winter, but as I said, they're short-staffed, and this is getting to be a busy time of the year now. What I'd like to see is if we do have projects on, or we do have things to do, let's get them done a month or two previous, before we all get on the water. Your volunteers are stretched. There will be a couple of days next week that I have work to do at the harbour along with getting ready for fishing.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, gentlemen, for coming. It's good to be here. I'm from British Columbia.
I'll start out. I just have a few questions, then maybe my colleague, Mr. Calkins, will have a few questions as well.
All of you are lobster fishermen, I take it. Do lobster fishermen in P.E.I. make a reasonable living these days?
Presenter, Naufrage Harbour Authority
Sure, we make a good living. It's a decent living.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
So it's still a reasonably good living for these 76 boats.
You say you have to dredge two or three times a year. What is the process that you go through when you need to dredge? Who do you ask? I wasn't sure if I heard you say that you're always having to sort of beg to get dredging done, or whether there is a process that works.
Chairman, Naufrage Harbour Authority
First of all, if we need dredging done we go to the small craft harbours people. They have to okay the dredging. Then we have to go through a tender process and get two, three, four tenders. As volunteers, we have to get that done. We're in the process of doing that now. We have to take them back, review them, and the lowest tender always gets the job.
This time of the year is busy for us, and I'd like to see it done a little earlier so that the contractor knows what he's doing and we know what we're doing. This could fill in in two weeks and it would have to be done again.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
Have you ever been turned down for dredging? Has it always been done basically when it needed to be done?
Vice-President, Naufrage Harbour Authority
We've been delayed to the point where there have been safety concerns, for sure. We've towed boats off of there for over a week, waiting for dredging. At one point there we had a problem getting a permit from the environment people, and we felt we shouldn't have, because they know where we're taking it from every time. It's the exact same place and nothing has changed.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
How do you think that process could be improved?
