Fisheries Committee on May 14th, 2009

[Ed Frenette]

We established a committee of fishermen to work on the development of a rationalization plan, but as far as we're concerned nothing will go forward at the PEIFA until there's a vote by the fishermen in each LFA to approve it or not. If they approve it, we'll go forward, but it wouldn't go forward without their consensus.

[Earle McCurdy]

Right now a program is in place on which there was no vote. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, through the minister and the provincial government, announced a program, the key element of which was so-called enterprise combining, whereby one or more fishing enterprise owners could buy out another at the total cost of the purchaser. So if we could have one where that cost, on a voluntary basis--

[A voice]

I'm having trouble with rationalization.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Your time is up.

[Earle McCurdy]

But that's a form of rationalization. That's done where the entire cost is borne by the harvester who chooses to participate. So if we could get one that was cost-shared, then people would choose to participate or not, as they saw fit, I presume.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Do you want to comment quickly?

[Ruth Inniss]

I'll just make a quick comment.

Mr. MacAulay, as you said, it will depend completely within LFAs, but until this point, this is the first time we've been seriously talking about having a buy-back or having rationalization with the provincial and federal government that's not just industry. The harvesters we represent are fully aware there's going to have to be some sort of compensation and something from their end. What that looks like right now, I can't tell you, but we're really happy to be able to start having these discussions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you.

Mr. Allen.

[Mike Allen, Conservative, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have one comment and a question, I guess. Throughout the report you talk about structural change in the industry and that structural change has to happen. The whole idea of making this optional does not appear to put structural change in the industry. I'm having a hard time getting my head around that concept, and that's a concept I'd like you to comment on.

I want to ask one question, and you can answer that. In the April 28 edition of L'Acadie Nouvelle, the three maritime provinces now have a marketing scheme going whereby if you buy a case of Moosehead product, you get $5 off lobster. It's not so bad that you can have your beer with your lobster; that's okay. But at the end of the day, that's with the Superstore. I had a wholesaler who was really very disenchanted with this program call me about this. Can you comment? I thought it was a neat program in terms of generating interest, but at the end of the day I'd like your thoughts on a program like that.

[Ed Frenette]

All I can say, sir, is that we've had no input into that at all. We found out when you did, when we read the newspaper.

[Earle McCurdy]

We approached a brewery in Newfoundland to see if they'd do something similar, but they declined. That was a good way to move some product.

[Ruth Inniss]

That marketing scheme wasn't something we, as industry, were involved in.

I just want to touch on your point about volunteer.... I think, given the demographic of the fishing industry today in Atlantic Canada, it's not going to be a problem. Having a voluntary program to rationalize or to get out or buy out of the industry, it won't be a problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Mr. Weston.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

I have a quick question, and then maybe I'll get back to Mr. MacAulay's line of questioning.

Mr. Frenette, you mentioned that people can't even go out west, as they have done before. I just want to say that the west is welcoming people these days. Honestly, I didn't quite understand what you meant by that.

[Ed Frenette]

A lot of fishermen who were working out west in the winter months and coming back to fish in the summer months had been laid off and their jobs have not been renewed.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Out west?

[Ed Frenette]

In the west, yes, whether it was Alberta, Saskatchewan, or whatever.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Okay, fair enough.

[Ed Frenette]

They're not able to make the income they've been making in the last ten years.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Getting back to Mr. MacAulay's line of questioning, can any of you come up with an idea of how this restructuring could happen to deal with this independence we saw in the witnesses we met in the Maritimes, and who we're hearing from today, and the need for some coordinated action? I'm still not getting how we could come to some sort of coherent conclusion, whether it's on a sales and marketing agency or on a consolidation system.

[Earle McCurdy]

On restructuring or fleet rationalization, it's happening now at a kind of snail's pace because the entire cost, as I say, has been left to industry.

We did a survey of our members. We had 1,500 licence holders respond to a detailed survey that took a considerable period of time to sit down and fill out. There was a high level of interest in having the opportunity to sell. And also, people were quizzed as to whether they'd be interested in buying additional quota or additional licences. There was a very substantial level of interest in a program that would do that, because there's a wide perception that the numbers now are out of whack with the available resource.

So I think it is quite feasible, but we need all players at the table, and to date, we haven't had that. The federal government has been the missing player.

[Ed Frenette]

I think there's another issue that rarely gets mentioned, and that's the capacity of organizations to deal with their rank-and-file membership. While we're three, there are many smaller organizations throughout the region.

We always complain about the lack of capacity. We operate, basically, from hand to mouth. We don't have the ability, either human or financial, to get out and do the information and educational work that has to be done. So we're really limited. That's why things take so long. They're spread out in a vast rural area.

It takes some hand-holding, frankly, to get these concepts and ideas across so people understand them. At recent meetings we've had, both with federal and provincial representatives, we continued to ask for more input from both those levels of government, as well as financially toward the organizations, to help us to do a much better job in serving our members.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the committee, thank you once again for taking the time today out of your very busy schedules to come here on very short notice. We really do appreciate your input today.

I'd like the committee members to stay behind for a two-minute in camera session. We need to deal with Mr. Blais's point of order, and there's another item we need to deal with in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]