Evidence of meeting #113 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was whales.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Mr. Lansbergen, or whoever would like to speak to this, how much of this issue could be attributed to predation on the whales' food source and the whales going into a different area?
President, Fisheries Council of Canada
I'll let Melanie speak to the right whale, but for the killer whale, which we've looked at a little more closely, the seals and the sea lions are taking more of the chinook than the commercial fishery, and the unfortunate part is that the Species at Risk Act is mandated to look at anthropogenic issues, not natural issues. In the recovery strategy it talks about—
President, Fisheries Council of Canada
Yes, that is part of the challenge. I'm hoping that in the action planning and the discussion around critical habitat the natural causes will start to be recognized.
General Manager, Grand Manan Fishermen's Association
As you heard from my colleagues, the right whales in the Bay of Fundy never went to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and then in 2010 we saw a decline in the population hanging around in the summer as they would traditionally do. There are no really good answers as to why the feed has dropped, but I think we need to spend some time on it because it's a canary in a coal mine.
Chief Executive Officer, Maritime Fishermen's Union
That's a good point. That's one of the places where the science is lacking at this point. In the gulf and in the Bay of Fundy these whales are looking for zooplankton. Is it climate change? Is anything else happening in the ecosystem that's affecting the presence or non-presence of this feed? The whales seem to be chasing food, but as I just mentioned, the science is lacking.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Okay, to that point, on the closures earlier this spring, the former fisheries minister used the reason that it was a science-based decision to do the closure.
Mr. Allen, I wonder if you have a comment on that.
President, Maritime Fishermen's Union
I have trouble hiding behind the science-based decision-making process because you can only make a decision based on the quality of the science you receive. I can get science to tell me anything. I'm sure oil executives in Calgary can give you science that says global warming doesn't exist. Even I can argue that the science justifies my argument that the North Atlantic right whales don't traditionally cross paths with our lobster fishermen.
Another one of the reasons they closed the fishery right to the shore on the Gaspé side is that calves and their mothers have been observed in less than 30 feet of water in the U.S. and the Bay of Fundy, but no calves were born this year so it's just—
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
I have one final comment; I believe my time is short.
When the minister starts talking about new training for your workers, does that lead to some concern over what lies in the future for your industry?
President, Maritime Fishermen's Union
Yes, we had that discussion with the minister. My first point is, what are we training them for? If we're going to train people right out of the industry, I have a flag on the play with that because I'm here to promote and sustain an industry, and one of the troubles we're having in the industry is finding employees at all levels, whether on the boats or at the dock or in the processing sector, so we have to be very cautious about what we are training them for. We had better make sure we're not training them right out of the industry because I need to do whatever I can to retain my employees.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
To all the guests, in your opinion, do MPAs make sense if the environment of the sea they are to protect is so dynamic?
General Manager, Grand Manan Fishermen's Association
The answer to that from where we sit on Grand Manan is no. Whales do not know where lines are.
Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)
Thank you, Mr. Doherty.
Now we'll go to Mr. Cannings from the NDP for the remainder of the time.
NDP
Richard Cannings NDP South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Okay, I'll be quick.
Thank you all for being here.
I'm an MP from a desert in British Columbia, although I do have a bit of an ancestral Newfoundland fisheries background. It's wonderful. I've learned a lot here in the short time I've been here today.
In my two minutes, I'll go to Ms. Sonnenberg and Ms. Morse to talk about possible solutions, to give you more time to describe, to me at least, the solutions you talked about with weak ropes. You mentioned some things that sounded like temporary fixes. Would those be solutions that your industry could live with: more traps per line, getting rid of the weak rope? I don't know whether you could get rid of the extra rope on the surface that you would haul up the line with. Things like that are what I was interested in.
Project Manager, Grand Manan Fishermen's Association
I think that's what's critical to this plan. It was developed by fishermen, and it's something they feel they can live with and continue to fish with. By getting rid of the rope on the surface of the water, it's more complicated to haul the traps. Especially when there's bad weather and a lot of seas, it's that much more challenging to do it. They feel that for a short period of time, if there is a whale present, they can make allowances to do that. Over the long term, it's probably not the most practical part.
The fishermen have been fishing more traps on a trawl. It's just grown as a natural course of the industry. As they go into deeper water and the boats get larger, the traps are larger. It's just how the fishery has developed. With the numbers that they've set, they feel it's a very realistic plan for the guys who are fishing in those areas. They'll be able to do this with relatively little expense.
As part of our plan, we still need to do some work on the weak rope part of it. They have breakaway links in the U.S. that they use in the main fishery, but they're not practical for some of the ways that our people are fishing. We want to do some work with some of the right whale researchers to look at the strength of the rope we're using, the size of the rope, to see if we can have a better determination about whether three-eighths is the correct size, or if there's a better solution.
That's why I said this is a start. It's a one-year pilot. We'll see how it looks at the end of the year, but it's a beginning. For us and the department going forward, we knew we had to start somewhere. That's what this is. It's really a good starting place for our people.
Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)
Thank you, Mr. Cannings.
A special thank you to our guests who appeared before committee today, both in person and by video conference.
The clock is now actually past 5:30.
The meeting is adjourned.