Evidence of meeting #48 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 rivers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
So doubling DFO's budget of $12 million to $24 million.
11:30 a.m.
Quebec Program Director, Atlantic Salmon Federation
There are things that the DFO did in the past that were complementary to the work we were doing.
In the initial days of our small tracking program, they provided transportation on some of their boats for us to be able to perform our research. Those boats were going out there anyway, so that was an in-kind contribution that is relatively easy to do.
Starting up that type of activity plus some real dollars to become a true partner in salmon conservation and research will help us find out exactly what's going on.
11:30 a.m.
NDP
Ryan Cleary NDP St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Conservation is obviously critical in Newfoundland and Labrador, in the Maritimes, and in Quebec in terms of Atlantic salmon. I feel that we're doing our part in terms of retention, in terms of the tagging system and the whole nine yards. But that's hard to swallow when you have a Saint Pierre corridor where Atlantic salmon is being harvested, and Greenland, for example, where probably around 70 tonnes is being taken.
I know that you outlined what Canada should do in terms of coming down on Greenland and asking France to become a member of NASCO, but how much harder of a stance should the DFO and the Government of Canada take on this? It seems like we're at a critical point.
11:35 a.m.
Quebec Program Director, Atlantic Salmon Federation
We are indeed.
If we are going to try to ask other people to do what we're telling them to do, we not only have to talk the talk, we have to walk the walk.
What I mean by that is that we have to reduce our harvest of the fish at all levels until we have a better handle on exactly what is going on. We believe quite strongly in managing rivers on an individual basis, but to be able to manage them that way, you need data on those individual rivers to take proper management decisions.
Earlier, I stated that only 10% of our rivers are being monitored and/or assessed, and so we can't do a proper job to ascertain what the situation is. Until we show concrete results in the reduction of our harvest, it will be difficult to sit down with the people on the other side of the Atlantic and ask them to do the same thing.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
François Lapointe NDP Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Cusson, what you said about Saint-Pierre and Miquelon was interesting.
As you see it, how does the fact that France is not a member of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization prevent us from working with that country? Is Canadian diplomacy doing as much as it should to bring France into NASCO?
11:35 a.m.
Quebec Program Director, Atlantic Salmon Federation
As I see it, up to now, Canada’s diplomatic pressure on France to become a member of the NASCO has not been as strong as the pressure brought to bear by the people within NASCO. If France were part of NASCO, it would be governed by the same rules as the other countries that have signed the agreement.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
François Lapointe NDP Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
If I understand the reasoning correctly, we must do better in being able to say to our partners: here is what we are doing and please do as well as we are. Setting aside what we are doing, a stronger diplomatic effort to bring Saint-Pierre and Miquelon into NASCO would still be an improvement. But you are saying that the diplomatic effort is not sufficient to attain that objective.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
François Lapointe NDP Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
That is quite serious, I must say.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
May 26th, 2015 / 11:35 a.m.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thanks very much, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, gentlemen, for your presentations this morning. They've been very interesting.
I think a couple of months ago this committee determined that we would undertake the study on recreational fishing in Canada, something that hadn't been studied at this committee before, I don't believe. There were a lot of questions the committee had, and we felt they needed to be answered.
We've been hearing from witnesses right across the country and different things from different areas of the country. But what we're really want to know is the cultural and economic impact of recreational fishing is in different parts of the country, who participates in it, whether those numbers are rising, decreasing, or staying the same, how the fishing stocks are being managed, and whether they can be managed better to improve the recreational fishery.
So, I'm going to ask Mr. LeBlanc a question, please. You talked quite a bit about your organization, the New Brunswick Wildlife Federation, and you mentioned many species of fish that are caught recreationally. You talked about 22 species alone, I believe, inland, and you also talked about a master angler program. I'm wondering if you can explain that, enhance that statement, and tell us what that's all about and how your organization is involved, if you implemented it, if it's based on a model from somewhere else, if it's something innovative that you have put in place, and how it relates to and enhances recreational fishing.
11:40 a.m.
President, New Brunswick Wildlife Federation
It was not invented by us at New Brunswick Wildlife but an initiative started by the Department of Natural Resources in our province in the 1990s, I believe. It was a promotional tool. The province wanted to encourage people to fish for trout or other species. The main target in our province is speckled trout, and we wanted to take some pressure off that. There were other people fishing other species. The province was trying to get people out fishing for different species of fish. This was a mechanism where we would give an award, a hat or a pin, or some kind of recognition that you were out angling: you captured a fish, you have a picture of it, and you gave us some data on that fish. It was the science part—the length, the girth, the weight—that the program was initially about.
That has evolved into saying that we shouldn't be harvesting all fish now, so let's release them. Now the component is that we'll give you a little better prize if you release a fish alive, but let's get the data we need, the biological data, and let's release the fish for it to live and to be hooked and released again. That's how this program goes about it.
You asked if fishing is on the increase. Yes, people are trying to get to the outdoors. Every group that I know of is trying to get kids off computers and outdoors. Fishing is a family activity. Ladies are now participating. We have companies in Moncton investing in this today. Tomorrow we have a big retail store opening up in our area geared to families and to fishing equipment and hunting equipment.
Fishing is not a dinosaur. It's not decreasing. It is a wonderful activity that we cherish here in New Brunswick. In my group it's more salmon fishing and trout, but on the marine side we have all kinds of other fishing that families do.
So yes, I believe it is on the rise. We have this little program trying to encourage people to participate some more.
That's all I can give on that aspect.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you very much for that answer. I'm glad to hear that recreational fishing is on the rise and that families are involved. I think it's a great family activity, and one that my family has been involved in for many years.
We certainly are wanting to promote it for younger children as well. Does your organization do anything in particular for young folk to get them interested? For example, this weekend I'm taking my grandson to our local hatchery where they have a fish pond that is stocked. The kids learn how to cast. They are able to catch a fish, and do catch and release. They promote events like this a couple of times a year.
Do you do anything like that?
11:40 a.m.
President, New Brunswick Wildlife Federation
We have a program within our organization that's called Becoming an Outdoors Woman. On June 15 they'll have 70 women participating in a weekend of different aspects of the outdoors. Fishing is a component of it. Be it fly-fishing or fishing with bait, they will do both. They talk about that, and it's specifically geared to women.
We have 24 clubs in our association across the province. A lot of them have kids camps. They will take kids in camps and introduce them to angling specific to the region in the province that they belong to; in the northern part it could be a lake or a small brook. They try to bring in children who might not have an opportunity, who because of economic or whatever else circumstances would not be exposed to that. There are mechanisms within our individual groups that do this kind of activity.
They actually do have some programs that are geared to families. If families are already doing it, you don't have to motivate them. We can't help what's already being well done by a family member. We encourage adults to take the children out. When we see mom and dad and the kids, it doesn't get any better than that.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
That's good.
You also talked about some of the threats in your area in particular. You talked about the environment and about invasive species. I would like you to elaborate a bit on both of those areas, if you could. I think an invasive species you particularly mentioned was the smallmouth bass.
11:45 a.m.
President, New Brunswick Wildlife Federation
It's unfortunate. Smallmouth bass is a great sport fish that we have in the St. John area or the southeast of the province. It's been there for a hundred years. It's not native to our province, but people have been moving it within the province into lakes or areas they shouldn't be, because these fish will threaten native species of salmon. We don't know the effect. We don't know how long. We just know that the salmon aren't bred, or they don't have the genetics, to defend themselves against a new predator. This is a concern of ours. The Fisheries Act has changed and we don't have the regulatory means to fix a problem. We have a threat to our Atlantic salmon in one particular lake and we do not have the regulatory means to eradicate that fish.
DFO and the Department of Natural Resources have been containing these fish for five years now, and what we find is that there are more young every year than we started with. We have fewer fish in the lake, but we have more smaller fish, which means they're still breeding. The eradication plan of electrofishing and gill netting is not working. We need to eradicate them chemically. We need to get rid of that threat in the Miramichi area. It's difficult for me to say on the one hand that it's good to have smallmouth bass in one area because it's a great fishery—a world-class one, I would say. I'm not part of that, but I know individuals who participate in that sport. I'm not one of them, but I know it exists. I don't want to say it's not wonderful, but to move it to another area could be detrimental to our Atlantic salmon, which already has a lot going against it now at sea. At sea we have a problem, and here we find in the pristine area that the rivers are healthy except that we might not be able to fix the threat if we don't get onto it soon.
So that's this....
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
I was just going to ask you another question. You explained that your master angler program was started initially by a provincial ministry, by the MNR.
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
We know that the management of recreational fisheries in Canada is a shared responsibility between the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. How would you assess the coordination of the federal and provincial strategies?
11:45 a.m.
President, New Brunswick Wildlife Federation
I think New Brunswick is doing well. We're managing, except as Monsieur Cusson says, DFO has maybe not been as active or doesn't have the resources to play a larger part. They've been reluctant in response to our request to act more, or to put.... They don't have the resources. It's not the people; it's the funding. The federal government needs to put more into managing salmon specifically. Inland it's a little easier. We're doing it. We have the release. We have limits and it seems to work. We are maintaining good healthy populations of trout.
Inland fisheries are different and it seems to be provincial. We have laws that are doing a service to the fish. The fish are still there. We do not enhance. We have a stocking program. We stock lakes that don't have.... We're helping out in landlocked lakes. We put fish into them that people can fish. You have more fishing opportunities, but our wild brooks are not being stocked. They are not being helped. They're sustaining their populations. The salmon is the only one we have a problem with, and DFO needs to get more involved in what they used to do. We don't see trucks parked for electrofishing. The cutbacks have been hard on research in New Brunswick.
