Evidence of meeting #52 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 terms.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Gordon Zealand  Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT

Fair enough.

The Yukon Fish and Game Association has representation on the hunter-angler advisory panel. Just generally speaking, how's the participation been on that panel, and how is its efficacy so far?

11:30 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

To me that is a very good use of our people. It has been extremely positive.

At the first couple of meetings, we were all struggling to get things together, but in the last two or three meetings, there have been very positive steps forward in terms of actually accomplishing things as a group. To me, that group is absolutely essential to bringing issues such as invasive species to the forefront, to the attention of you folks, with regard to how they affect various parts of Canada.

Hats off to you guys for putting that group into a functioning body and enabling it to happen. From my point of view, it's an excellent usage of time.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT

Super.

Do you know how many members you have currently at the Yukon Fish and Game Association?

11:30 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

Right now we have somewhere between 900 and 1,000.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT

Wow. Again, percentage-wise, there are 37,000 people in the territory, as you mentioned, so 900 members is an excellent proportional representation of the Yukon's population. In terms of angling licences sold, those are pretty impressive numbers.

The money from fishing licences sold in the Yukon goes into general revenue and not into particular fisheries conservation, is that right?

11:30 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

That's correct.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT

You mentioned that you don't know the particular budget of the Yukon government with respect to dedicated resources for fishing and recreational fisheries. That would all be administered by which department?

11:30 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

It would all be administered by the department of environment within the Yukon government.

11:30 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT

Okay, and you have a fairly close relationship at the fish and game association with the technicians, directors, and conservation officers as well.

11:30 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

Yes, we have an excellent relationship with them. They have a lot of great people involved in their department. My hat is off to them in terms of the time and effort they put into it. They certainly go beyond what would normally be expected of workers.

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT

Thanks for that.

You and I have talked in the past about the recreational fisheries conservation partnerships program and just the challenges in stacking the provincial dollars, federal dollars, and other program dollars. There's been a recent change to it that allows for the stacking of those funds. I'm just wondering if you've been able to take advantage of that program at all at this point.

11:35 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

We haven't yet, but because of the change, we have been talking with some other folks in terms of how we might be able to work together with them in terms of putting in an application. So far we haven't. We just found that we were too constrained, and....

If I want to be honest, I didn't want to be going down a path that would get us into trouble.

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

Ryan Leef Conservative Yukon, YT

Thank you for your time this morning, Gord.

11:35 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

11:35 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston

Thank you very much, Mr. Zealand and Mr. Leef.

Mr. MacAulay.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Welcome, Mr. Zealand.

On the invasive species issue, first of all I congratulate you. If you can keep it under control you'll save a lot of money, because after it happens it seems to be a desperate problem. I'm sure you're fully aware of that.

Do you have catch and release in the Yukon?

11:35 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

Yes, we do. Absolutely.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Is there much of a mortality rate there?

11:35 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

From the studies they've done here, at least, I don't think it's any different from the rest of Canada. I guess to summarize, I'd say it's similar.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

On the licensing issue, the $25 or whatever it is, would you like to see that go into a fund and be dedicated to your organization, let's say, or some organization that can do more to promote the recreational fishery? Whether you agree or disagree, I'd also like you to indicate where your people come from outside of the Yukon. Are they mostly Canadians and Americans? Do you have Europeans? What needs to be done?

You have, I would think, a wonderful attraction for people who like to be involved in the wild, who like to be involved in the fishery, and you also have, I would think, a market that you're just touching yet, but that could be expanded into a lot more money. I'd like to have your idea on what you think should be done by governments, or your organization, or.... Where do you see it going?

11:35 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

Obviously we are very fortunate in the Yukon. Yes, you're bang on. We are attractive to a lot of non-resident Canadians. We have a lot of Americans. We actually have a lot of Europeans also. How do we help these folks? I guess it's just by making sure we have as good information as possible, whether it's on our website or on government websites. What is it they need? What are the basic things to get people started? Why should they come and see Canada? Why should they come and see the Yukon in terms of the various things we have to offer?

To me, in terms of outside Canada, and maybe even within Canada, tourism would be involved in that sort of marketing. Locally it should be up to us and the Yukon government, obviously. They should be promoting stuff, and they are. We are as well. We try to help everyone who comes by our office and uses our websites or whatever, in terms of providing as much aid as we can and in terms of making sure their trip is a good one and they enjoy it here.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

Well, obviously—

11:35 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

Sorry, but you had some earlier questions and I think I got sidetracked here and missed a couple.

11:35 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

I was wondering, when you were talking about advertising, if you thought it should be left to governments or should there be a wildlife organization that does promotion.

I'm not fully aware of all that you have in the Yukon, but I would expect that you have a resource that's extremely valuable worldwide. What I'm getting at is, how do you get to the people around the world? There are people all over the world who want to fish and hunt in your area. How do you do this? Do you collect funds from licences? Do you leave that to the Yukon government? Is it under the federal government in terms of tourism?

I think you have a resource that could expand. Could you indicate to me how much expansion there has been over the last five years? Have you enjoyed a large increase in the number of people outside of the Yukon coming to fish in the Yukon? That's what I'm getting at.

If you're satisfied and things are progressing the way you think they should be, that's great, but if you think that there's a potential to increase dramatically, I'd like to hear from you.

June 16th, 2015 / 11:40 a.m.

Executive Director, Yukon Fish and Game Association

Gordon Zealand

You did remind me of the one question I missed.

In terms of the licence fees and that sort of thing, I believe it doesn't matter what province you're in, those fees should go back into a fund so the money is then used to promote whatever programs are deemed necessary or the critical programs within that particular province. So yes, that definitely should be a fund set aside. Whether you're hunting or fishing, that money should be going back into helping promote the resource.

In terms of how we promote it across the country, everybody's in the electronic age, so we have to have better stuff on our websites. At the same time, I know we provide information. People know if they contact us they can get somebody directly on a line. They can talk to them and get answers. If we don't have the answers, our organization knows where to get the information for these people.

I know that since I've been working with the fish and game association, we've had a lot of growth in terms of actual interaction with the public outside of Canada. It must be from word of mouth, from people saying that if you phone these guys, you'll get some answers, or if they don't have the answers they'll get them for you.