Yes.
Evidence of meeting #45 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was recreational.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #45 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was recreational.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:35 a.m.
Professor and Fisheries Biologist, Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab, Queen's University, As an Individual
Yes.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Unfortunately, to date, DFO's research efforts have largely been focused on commercial fisheries on the coasts, and other things. Does DFO do any walleye research that you are aware of?
11:35 a.m.
Professor and Fisheries Biologist, Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab, Queen's University, As an Individual
Not to my knowledge.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Okay. It is important to get that on the record as well.
In terms of funding, Dr. Tufts, are you familiar with our recreational conservation partnerships program?
11:35 a.m.
Professor and Fisheries Biologist, Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab, Queen's University, As an Individual
Yes, I am. That was a very good step forward.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
We recently added $30 million to that budget, and we'll have a total budget of $55 million. To date, almost 400 cooperative conservation projects with angling communities have been done.
What effect overall, both on the angling groups themselves and on the resource itself, will those projects have in terms of conserving fish and fish habitat?
11:35 a.m.
Professor and Fisheries Biologist, Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab, Queen's University, As an Individual
Those are tremendously positive steps forward. I think there's no doubt that many of those projects will have positive impacts. The important point there is that it's a big piece of the puzzle, but there are still some major pieces missing.
As a scientist, I can say that many of us talk about a lot of the habitat work that's being done around the world these days and point out that while it's all well intentioned, in many cases there's an absence from science directing where those projects are done, how well they are working, and documenting their impacts. So I think this speaks to my point about scientific expertise around the country and the fact that another important piece of the puzzle in that direction is to have a strong science base that evaluates and directs a lot of that work.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
In my own career as a fisheries biologist early on, there were a lot of us who worked on recreational fisheries, and I certainly agree with you that the trend has been to get away from that. As I said, one of the purposes of this study is to take a look at exactly what you're talking about, Dr. Tufts.
Mr. Melnik, at the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association, you sit the hunting and angling advisory panel, is that correct?
11:40 a.m.
Managing Director, Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association
I do not personally. Phil Morlock, our government affairs chair, does.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
What can you say in terms of the effectiveness of having anglers, hunters, and sport-shooting groups basically in the engine room of government, so to speak, advising key ministers?
11:40 a.m.
Managing Director, Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association
It is very valuable, and I often say that to our members when they ask what it is their membership dollars are doing. The first thing I point to is the work of Phil Morlock, Tom Brooke, and others who look after our government affairs committee. To have the opportunity to rub shoulders with MPs, as we did a few weeks ago at the outdoor caucus breakfast, is amazing. To be at the table is valuable and certainly appreciated.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Great.
Dr. Tufts, given that catch and release is vital to the maintenance of the sustainability of our recreational fisheries, can you talk about hooking mortality and what is being done to minimize hooking mortality when fish are released? Perhaps you could comment on some of the research you're doing in this field as well.
11:40 a.m.
Professor and Fisheries Biologist, Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab, Queen's University, As an Individual
That's a great question. Thank you.
I've actually been involved in that research area for almost my entire career. I was on the east coast of Canada working at Dalhousie University when mandatory catch and release came into play for Atlantic salmon. There was a lot of debate and controversy about that. My research ended up looking at the survival of Atlantic salmon after catch and release, and whether there were any instances where that could be improved upon.
Over the years I have done many, many different studies on different species to look at the impacts of live release and whether there's any mortality associated with that. I can say that without doubt from all these studies the vast majority of all of those fish survive.
We just looked in the laboratory the other day at a bass we collected that had been in the bass fishery in Lake Ontario for 18 years. It was 18 years old. Bass is a really important target species for recreational anglers, and the fact that there are 17- and 18-year-old fish swimming out there tells you those fish are being caught and released, and surviving. We've done tagging studies on fish that have been caught and released and virtually all of those fish survived.
In the few areas where there have been issues, where there's been a problem with live release, my research has actually helped anglers understand important things like keeping fish in the water if they're releasing them and the significance of water temperature for live-release situations. One of the great things about the recreational angling industry is that it's well received. This information has been put into practice and anglers are very conscientious about making sure that the fish they release are in very good condition.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Can you comment on the key angling species, species by species, and the what hooking mortality is, just in general terms?
11:40 a.m.
Professor and Fisheries Biologist, Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab, Queen's University, As an Individual
Sure. I probably would preface that by saying a lot of the work I've done has been to look at things like water temperature and how something like that, even in one species, such as Atlantic salmon, could influence survival or mortality.
Really, what you see if you look at this literature is this. If conditions are appropriate for the fish—water temperature is reasonable and the angling practices are reasonable—I can say without exception that virtually every study shows that survival is over 90%. Then when you're talking about mortality, you're talking about usually less than 5% as a hooking mortality in fish species.
Maybe some exceptions to that would be when we get into situations with very high water temperatures, things like that which are actually unnatural for fish these days. In some of these cases the mortality is higher. But I think in a lot of the situations, such as the Atlantic salmon fishery, anglers and managers have recognized that they have to close the fishery in some cases now when the temperatures get that high.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Right.
Mr. Melnik, this study is the first of its kind that the fisheries and oceans standing committee has ever undertaken, to my knowledge. I think it's extremely important. We're getting some profound and interesting testimony.
Can you talk, Mr. Melnik, about why a study like this is important?
11:45 a.m.
Managing Director, Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association
I think any time we pause to take a look at what we're doing and what we're not doing, whether it's in government or in business, it's always a good thing. We were thrilled to be invited to testify before the committee.
I think we have to ask hard questions. I'm impressed that the DFO standing House committee is looking into the practices of how things are done currently. I'm very impressed with that, because that's the only way we move forward, by looking at what we're not doing right, correcting it, getting a plan of action in place, and going forward.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
Dr. Tufts, to go back to you again, what is the state of stock assessment monitoring work in relation to our recreational fisheries across Canada? I know it's a big country and a tough question, but what's your general sense of the stock assessment work that's being done on our recreational fisheries?
11:45 a.m.
Professor and Fisheries Biologist, Freshwater Fisheries Conservation Lab, Queen's University, As an Individual
I guess it depends on where we're looking. I think, historically, there was quite a lot of effort to evaluate numbers for species like Atlantic salmon. The nice thing about salmon is you can count them when they come up rivers. My impression of the effort in stock assessment and other aspects of the Atlantic salmon fishery is that it's been greatly reduced in recent years and that we have very little understanding of many aspects of the Atlantic salmon fishery on Canada's east coast.
In inland fisheries, I think we still have provincial presence monitoring a lot of the stocks for inland fisheries, but in those cases that's where that jurisdiction really belongs. On the west coast of Canada I guess I'm less familiar, but my sense on the west coast of Canada is that we pay far less attention to the recreational fishery and the recreational species on the west coast of Canada, such as steelhead, which has tremendous recreational value, and that most of the effort and understanding of the stocks is directed toward commercial species such as sockeye and species of salmon like that.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Marquette, MB
I think my time is up. Thank you very much.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I welcome the witnesses, very much so. Coming from Prince Edward Island, I well understand the importance of the commercial and the recreational fisheries. They are both very important.
I also want to assure you that from the understanding I have, this is what we're here for: tough questions. This is not a promotional event. This is an event to find out just how we can improve the situation. That's why I, on this committee, pushed so hard to make sure that this study moved forward and that we heard from people like you.
On the information we've received, I certainly did not know some of it. Some of it is quite important, and perhaps some of it is not so important. You indicated that they spend more on the recreational fishery than at Tim Hortons or on beer, which is somewhat interesting.
Mr. Melnik, you indicated in your presentation that it's important that it's a science-based fishery. You mentioned open access opportunities. I'd like you expand a bit on that. I agree, certainly, that it's a science-based fishery and that open access is vital, but I'd like you to elaborate further on that.
11:45 a.m.
Managing Director, Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association
I wish our government affairs chair, Phil Morlock, was not travelling in the U.S. today and was able to be here, because he could be much more eloquent than I.
Access issues are certainly under way in the United States. We're witnessing that happen on both the east and west coasts.
I think Dr. Tufts would have more knowledge on that than I do, as well.
