Evidence of meeting #47 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 pei.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
Do these charter operators require any kind of specialized training, either from DFO or your association, or the province perhaps?
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
They need what we call a fishing master IV, which is referred to in fishing areas as “a hundred-tonne ticket,” but it's actually a fishing master IV. They have to have that, and outside of that the boat has to go through steamship inspection. When you get both those components in place, you're ready to go.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
I'm from British Columbia, but if I were to move to Prince Edward Island—and you never know—and I had a lot of money, which I don't, and I had a large boat of my own, would I be able to go out and fish for tuna on the catch-and-release system, or is the only way that I can experience catching Atlantic bluefin tuna to go on one of your charters?
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
First of all, you would have to be independent core and purchase a tow licence and a boat, and then you would be ready to go. After you got your fishing master IV and your boat went through steamship inspection, you could go.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
So as an individual without a commercial licence, I could fish for tuna as long as I released them?
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
No, you would have to purchase a towing licence first.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
I have one follow-up question about the catch and release.
I understand the study that you've done in terms of post-release mortality, and we appreciate that data. Are there any other effects that might...? Say the operator releases the tuna that I've caught and say it doesn't die, are there any other negative effects? If you catch it then the next day as a commercial operator, will it look different, seem different, or affect your enterprise in some way?
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to respond to that.
We're hearing conflicting reports from a lot of our commercial fishermen now. You have to realize that this is a relatively new industry. It just got going in the last three or four years. The amount of released fish varies, but they're increasing year by year. We're hearing from a lot of commercial fishermen that they don't believe that the fish are in as good a shape as they used to be, based on the releases. We haven't done a study yet. Some of the buyers are telling us that there are fish in bad shape. They're not sure what it's all...or what have you, I don't know. It's a good question, but we don't have the answer to it just yet.
Conservative
Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC
One final question. I think I'm just about out of time.
Do you have a comprehensive way of collecting data on who the customers are who you take on these charters? How many of them are domestic, from P.E.I. for example, and how many from other provinces? Do they come from overseas, from the U.S. and so on?
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
I'm not involved in the catch and release. I do have relatives who do it, but as near as I can understand, they have to fill out log sheets. Just exactly what's on that log sheet, the data on that particular sheet when they're carrying a charter, I'm not sure if it's place of origin from the charter and stuff.
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Am I required to address these fellows as Mr. Jenkins and Mr. MacPherson? That doesn't seem right at all.
Mr. MacPherson, I live in the area and there's absolutely no question that the catch and release has some massive effect on the economy where it takes place. Wouldn't you agree with that?
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
Certainly we're seeing some of the local tournaments and things like that—and the fact we alluded to earlier, that we are seeing more independent operators get into that business, would speak to it being financially viable for people to get into it. That appears to be the case.
Liberal
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
There are 351.
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
No, they're all active.
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
They are all active.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
They're all active, and any of those 321 could be involved in the catch and release, should they decide to equip the boat like Mr. Jenkins has indicated.
Executive Director, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
That's correct, yes. Actually the number is 351, so it is a little higher than 321, but yes, that's correct.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
Of course, always the survival of the fish is your biggest concern and, of course, it is ours here too. The amount of fish is always a concern too. I'd like to ask Mr. Jenkins to comment on the tuna fishery and, let's say, allocation and how it's divided. You might refer to that and you might refer to the halibut fishery, and whether there is any recreational fishery and how that is divided.
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I will respond to the member's question on tuna first. The P.E.I. fleet has just about 50% of the licences.
Vice-President, Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association
We have just about 50% of the Atlantic-wide licences. We get about 30% of the quota.
Do I feel it's fair? No, I don't feel it's fair. It's shameful that our fleet sector, with 50% of the licence holders here and living on P.E.I., would have to fight over 30% of the quota year after year when 30 licence holders down in southwest Nova Scotia have approximately 110 tonnes to fish every year. Our 350 guys here fish approximately 126 tonnes, so it's easy mathematics on that one.
To answer your question on halibut, it's basically the same as tuna. We have a lot of groundfish licences here and we have very little quota.
