Fisheries Committee on Feb. 15th, 2011

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

Mr. Calkins.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Chair, I believe the witness should be afforded the opportunity, because he is here at the expense of the taxpayer, to at least provide his statement. He should be able to use his own laptop and so on to go ahead and make his presentation. It's unfortunate that we won't be able to follow along.

The question I have is whether the witness was provided with any instruction prior to his attendance here about the rationale or the need for things to be in both official languages?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

The answer, I understand, is yes.

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

Yes.

As regards the document I submitted to the committee, you have the French and English versions of it, Mr. Chairman.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

So does the committee agree that he proceed with his presentation?

[Raynald Blais, Bloc, Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC]

For the presentation, yes.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

But no slides.

[A voice]

Okay.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

Proceed.

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

Mr. Chairman, honourable committee members, I apologize for this mistake.

The information I wanted to give you essentially concerns the structure of ArcticNet. ArcticNet is the leader of the system and, through a steering committee, ensures that the system's scientific activities are ethical and in the interests of Canada.

The main infrastructure that we use for research is the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen. We patrol the entire region of the maritime Arctic from Hudson Bay to Baffin Bay, the Northwest Passage, the Canadian archipelago, and the Beaufort Sea, which is the only avenue--or opening, if you like--that we have in Canada on the Arctic Ocean.

Starting in 2009, we developed collaborations with the oil and gas industry in the Beaufort Sea, where, as it has been explained earlier today, INAC, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, awarded exploration licences to different companies, starting in 2007.

Now, this region has been studied extensively by ArcticNet and other programs since 2002, and we do have a unique expertise at ArcticNet on the ecosystem of the geology and geophysics of the area, the sea-ice regime.

Consistent with our research mandate at ArcticNet, we have put our expertise at the service of Canada and Canadians to assess the risks of exploratory drilling in this region and also the potential environmental risks of exploratory drilling.

As the industry representatives explained this morning, we are examining a number of aspects: the sea-ice regime, oceanic climate data, traffic conditions and so on. We are examining the entire food chain, from plankton to whales, including fish as well as animals that live on the ocean bottom, which we call benthos. All this information is available in mission reports that explain what has been done.

We also make the data available on ArcticNet's sponsored website, which is called the “Polar Data Catalogue”, and which is slowly starting to be the largest repository for data about the Arctic in the world. This data--or at least the information about who has the data and what kind of data is available--can be accessed on the Polar Data Catalogue at this time.

So in essence the message I wanted to give to the committee is that partnership.... In Canada, there is often a criticism made in the field of research and development that the private sector does not participate enough in research and development in Canada, that it's the main problem we have in research and development.

Here we have an example of a perfect match of interests and a perfect partnership between academia and the private sector. This partnership is to the benefit of Canadians. With this data, which is available to all stakeholders, the NEB will be able to make the best decision possible, a decision founded on the best data available, as to whether or not we should proceed with an exploration well in the Beaufort Sea.

I will repeat that the Amundsen is not drilling for oil in the Beaufort Sea. Even if we wanted to drill for oil, we wouldn't be able to. The best we can do is to core in the soft sediments to a depth of about eight metres. To reach oil or gas deposits, you have to drill several hundreds or even thousands of metres in solid rock. It's something we cannot do. Only a platform or a large drilling ship can do that.

The oil and gas industry, as they explained this morning, does not charter the Amundsen. They pay their fair share of the operations, pro-rated to the number of days that we actually work in the exploration concessions.

The oil companies also pay a portion of equipment recapitalization, that is the depreciation of the ship's equipment, as well as their share of investment, which is taken out of taxpayers' money for the mobilization of the ship. This way of doing things permits a return on investment that will be reinvested in the recapitalization of the Amundsen's equipment and in the development of new research projects conducted by ArcticNet on Inuit health, education and culture.

All these factors considered by ArcticNet's steering committee and also by the independent steering committee of the Amundsen, when we decided to form a partnership with the industry in the Beaufort Sea. The impact on research and the Inuit communities is already starting to be felt. I believe this is really a remarkable example of the kind of relationship that can be established between the private sector and the universities in the research field.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

Thank you very much, Mr. Fortier.

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

I had so many beautiful images that I could have shown the committee. It could have been a break during your lunchtime. Sorry about that.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

Mr. Calkins.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Wetaskiwin, AB]

If there is no language in English or French on these, I believe the witness would be perfectly within his right to show us those images.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Lawrence MacAulay]

Thank you, Mr. Calkins; you're making it very simple. It's at the wish of the committee.

I think it's the wish of the committee that.... Do we want to pursue this further, or do we want to go to the questions?

Go to the questions. Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Fortier. I'm sorry.

Ms. Murray.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Fortier, thank you for coming to give us an overview of ArcticNet and the amassing of data. I support the idea of academics and the business community and government working together to be more effective in a common objective. So I want to congratulate you on this initiative.

My understanding is that these activities are happening within the Beaufort Sea LOMA. Is that correct?

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

Yes, it is part of the Beaufort Sea large management area for the oceans, but it is not articulated. We have precise regions where we want to work, but it's inside that region.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Yes.

That region is one of five regions that was identified as being a sensitive habitat, with potential for conflict between industrial activity and the need to protect the ecology. So the Government of Canada identified five areas where the legislation and strategy was to take those areas and have integrated management planning occur. Is that correct?

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

Yes.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I'm from British Columbia, so I've seen how effective integrated management planning is. For example, on the central coast of British Columbia over the course of a few years, agreement was reached that enabled the industrial activity to take place with the full support of the first nations, the environmental groups, etc.

My hope was that this planning process that integrates the interests of industry with first nations, Inuit, the environment, and community would take place before an industrial activity starts to occur.

My understanding is the Beaufort Sea integrated management plan is the process of starting to explore how this Beaufort Sea area should be zoned for various activities. Could you tell me whether that Beaufort Sea integrated management plan is part of the seismic activities undertaken under ArcticNet and is within the purview of that plan?

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

First of all, I'd like to make a correction. There seems to have been some misunderstanding during the first session this morning.

We do not carry out seismic work from the Amundsen. We are not equipped to do that. Again, you need a large ship, a ship that is call a boomer, a large ship that can actually send very strong acoustic signals to the bottom of the ocean to reveal the structure. We cannot do that with the Amundsen.

This integrated management approach to the development of a region or the protection of a region is exactly what we're trying to do within the framework of ArcticNet and those partnerships with the industry.

As you certainly know, the key for the development of those management approaches is scientific knowledge. We have to know what is there. What are the resources? What is the biomass? What are the animal populations? What are the resources that are used by the community there, and how are they used? We have to know this before we can actually develop a plan like that for the sustainable development of a region or protection of a region. With ArcticNet, this is exactly what we're doing.

Since 2002—

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Excuse me, with respect, I'd like to ask some other questions, because the time is limited. Thank you for clarifying.

I was shocked, frankly, when this current government issued leases to explore an area that was already identified as one of the large ocean management areas. Seismic activity is considered by many researchers to have negative impacts on the feeding and the calving behaviours, and we know that there are some species of concern in that area.

This was a Conservative government initiative that completely disrespected the integrated management planning approach that DFO was fully involved with and put on the table. The seismic activity, you're saying, occurred before this ArcticNet Amundsen partnership. Is that correct?

Clearly, nobody was making sure to prevent the possible negative impacts on listed species when those companies went forward to do their seismic work. To me, that's shocking.

Under ArcticNet, who assures that the activities of the Amundsen are respectful of potential impacts on the environment? Who sets the standard for that? Or is it up to every partner to set their own standard for respecting the potential impact on the species and potential spills?

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

All the work that is carried out from the Amundsen by ArcticNet or other programs must obtain licences from different organizations, one of them being DFO, for the collection of plankton, for the study of fish, or for different aspects. We also need to have permission and licensing from the Inuit organizations who are responsible for the governance of the region. In this case, for the Beaufort Sea, it's the Inuvialuit settlement. Those licences and permits are obtained every year by ArcticNet. We go into the communities, we explain what we're going to be doing, and we obtain permission. If we don't obtain permission, we don't do it.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Just to go back to what you said about ArcticNet being a kind of integrated plan approach, the Beaufort Sea integrated marine plan is a formal structure, with well thought out criteria and a work plan. Is ArcticNet duplicating that? Is it within the structure? Are you a component of this integrated marine plan, or are you adopting a similar approach but you're not part of that approach?

[Prof. Louis Fortier]

We're not part of the official approach, if you wish. We're in parallel and we use a different mechanism. We are developing what are called integrated regional impact studies of different regions, one of which is the Beaufort Sea region.