Fisheries Committee on Oct. 27th, 2011

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Thank you very much.

Let's just say that there was enough public controversy raised about net-pen aquaculture and Canada's precipitous move to mandate closed containment only, I would presume that the price of salmon would have to be fairly high to make that economical.

Given that other countries would probably continue with net-pen aquaculture and given that we're part of the World Trade Organization, is it conceivable that those countries would flood our markets with much lower-priced salmon and put closed containment aquaculture out of business?

[Kevin Stringer]

My view is that's not unreasonable as something that you might foresee.

Let's again use the example of carbon capture and storage, which is one of those things where the number of countries involved had to be large enough for somebody to start going in that direction, because if one went in that direction, the others would face a disadvantage.

We do work with other countries. Other countries are looking at closed containment. We think it is important to go in tandem as much as possible with the other leaders. The other leaders by the way are Norway, Scotland, and Chile. I'm not sure about all of them, but I know that some of them certainly are looking at this sort of thing, although I think it is more prevalent here than it is elsewhere at the moment in terms of the views.

I'll use this opportunity to say that one of the advantages of bringing scientists with you is that they get to prove you wrong in the first 15 minutes. I have a study on life cycle assessment of alternative aquaculture technologies, so one study has been done that we know of. It was done by Dalhousie University, and we would be happy to provide it to you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

You still have a couple of minutes left.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Okay, good.

Can closed containment aquaculture be done anywhere. Is that fair enough to say? Just a quick yes or no.

[Kevin Stringer]

It can be done anywhere. It does require—

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

It doesn't have to be done on the coast, though.

[Kevin Stringer]

You want to be near a water source.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

I understand.

[Kevin Stringer]

You want to be near a power grid.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Right, understood.

[Kevin Stringer]

So when you're talking about Manitoba versus B.C., yes.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

Okay.

Let's say that if closed containment aquaculture or the prevalent form of aquaculture came to be mandated in Canada, we could conceivably see a tremendous loss of rural jobs. I look at your report here, which says there are 6,000 direct, full-time jobs currently in aquaculture. Those, I would suspect, are largely rural jobs in remote communities and areas where employment is difficult to find to begin with. So a move toward closed containment aquaculture, where those systems would potentially be moved closer to where the markets are, could cause a really significant hit for maritime, rural economies. Is that a fair assumption?

[Kevin Stringer]

Right now, the aquaculture industry is a rural industry in Canada on both coasts and inland areas. It's providing significant jobs in rural communities. I gave the statistics earlier: there are 6,000 jobs in B.C., and 5,000 on the east coast. As you know, they're not easy to replace. It is currently a rural industry and is supporting rural Canada.

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB]

That's good.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. Sopuck.

Mr. MacAulay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much.

I'm supposed to ask the questions, but I'll give you my opinion first. If you destroy the fishery in the rural areas, in the Atlantic region in particular, we'll have no rural areas. I'll just tell you that for sure. The inshore fishery and the aquaculture industry have done an awful lot for the economy where I live. In fact, while it's not the main part, the fishery is certainly a big part.

What portion of DFO's budget would you say is allocated to aquaculture?

And I welcome you here, if I didn't already. It's good to have you here again. I've been here a few times with you, and I hope to be here a few more.

[Voices]

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[Kevin Stringer]

As do I.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

The alternative is poor.

[Voice]

Oh, oh!

[Kevin Stringer]

Yes.

I don't know what portion is the percentage of the department....

I'll say two things. One is that the new B.C. program that we established is $8.3 million and 55 FTEs. That was what was new, and I'd say that this doubled what we had going on in the department. We have more responsibility now in British Columbia, with the court decision and our taking responsibility. That's one thing I'd say.

The second thing I'd say, having been around this department for a while, is that when I first came to the department in the late nineties, there were maybe 10 people in the department dealing with aquaculture. I've seen it grow over the years to become a major file in the department. It's really grown to take its place. In my view it's at a point now of consolidating, ensuring that we have good, solid environmentally responsible regulations and systems in place.

But I've given you an order of magnitude. We can give you specific numbers of the budget. I'd be happy to provide those.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I just wondered....

[Kevin Stringer]

Okay, so that's the order of magnitude. It has become a significant file in the department.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

As you have indicated, it's grown from the time you arrived, and I expect it will continue to grow. If you could just get governments to properly fund the departments, then you would be okay.

I imagine you'd like to respond to that.

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Oh, oh!