Evidence of meeting #128 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 fishery.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Do you mean compensation for existing fishermen?
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Compensation isn't something that we would normally consider, with some exceptions. We have licence retirement programs. Where we have reduced capacity in the fleet, we have offered these voluntary programs, which do allow people to leave the industry and receive amounts of money. There have been programs like that. The Newfoundland plan is one. There are a number of examples that allow people to leave the industry and receive money for it.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
I think the halibut fishery is very competitive. Have you had instances where halibut fishermen have actually left the fleet?
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We certainly have reallocated access from regular commercial fishermen to indigenous groups. Yes, there have been a number of reallocations. That would mean people would be leaving the industry. Yes.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to go back to Dr. Donkersloot to talk a little bit more about “Turning the Tide”. You mentioned you're going to forward that report to this committee, which we appreciate. We look forward to getting that and going through it.
Could you give us the top shelf, the top recommendations, or talk about what the recommendations are that the report focuses on?
Director, Working Waterfronts Program, Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Yes. There are five recommendations that we identified after our global review of programs and our three years of research.
One of the top ones is to create diversification opportunities for the next generation. We encouraged or recommended that the State of Alaska develop a fisheries access task force. We recognized the need for the state to invest in mentorship or apprenticeship programs or use fisheries. Ultimately, it was that new access points are needed if we want the next generation of fishermen to be Alaskans.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Sorry, could you break that down again in five recommendations?
Number one was create diverse opportunities or create opportunities for diversification.
Director, Working Waterfronts Program, Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Right, it's the need to allow our young fishermen to diversify.
Number two would be the creation of apprenticeship or mentorship programs to train the next generation.
Number three would be the creation of a state-wide fisheries access task force.
Number four would be around infrastructure. I didn't mention this last time. It would be continuing to invest in local and community-based infrastructure.
Number five has to do with the creation of new access points or pathways to permit ownership.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Could you talk a little bit more about the infrastructure? What kind of infrastructure were you talking about that the state would have to invest in?
Director, Working Waterfronts Program, Alaska Marine Conservation Council
Many of our rural communities are not connected to roads, so there's a need for harbours, processing, transportation needs, and infrastructure to support access and market opportunities. A lot of our infrastructure comes from out of state. A lot of our processors come from out of state. They're there for the fishing season and then they leave. With more infrastructure, we could be housing more local opportunities for boat welding, net mending, small-scale processing like the niche marketing that I mentioned before around direct marketing, so those types of opportunities.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Who would strike the task force if this recommendation were implemented?
Director, Working Waterfronts Program, Alaska Marine Conservation Council
The State of Alaska would do it, and there's a model that can be followed in Alaska. The governor would have to sign off on it. A few years ago the state set up a mariculture task force. There's a zero fiscal note attached to it, and we thought that would be a good model to follow for a fisheries access task force.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Great, thank you.
Ms. Reid and Mr. Thomson, if this committee came up with a series of recommendations similar to this “Turning the Tide” report, what's the best point of entry in the department for implementing recommendations such as what Dr. Donkersloot talked about?
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I would recommend that this committee provide advice to the minister for consideration, and we would develop a response that would take that into account.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
You're saying that yourself, as RDG, would look at it. You would perhaps strike a task force. Would you include the industry, fishing, first nations...?
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
If the minister were to say, Rebecca, implement or at least give me some advice on the recommendations from this committee, I would work with my ADM colleagues, with the deputy minister. We would also, if directed, undertake a consultative approach to consider the types of recommendations that had been offered and to understand the impacts, the implications and the views of people. That's a very typical way that we undertake those types of reviews.
Mr. Ken McDonald (Avalon, Lib.)
Everybody gets caught once, right?
It was actually over time.
Mr. Rogers for five minutes or less, please.
Liberal
Churence Rogers Liberal Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's one question I want to get at. You cut me off the first time, but I was out of time I guess.
I want to know the discrepancy at the income levels. It bugs me to no end that there's such a discrepancy between eastern Canada and western Canada. I know that there are some factors that Kevin made reference to in terms of shellfish, crab, lobster and some other factors. I do realize that there are some fishermen in eastern Canada who struggle in different sectors. That's a huge discrepancy. Is there something that has been done in eastern Canada—some model, some structure or something different—that could be applied in western Canada to be able to help out the people who are involved in the fishing industry on the west coast? Is there anything we could transfer from eastern Canada in terms of how we do things versus western Canada?
Senior Advisor, Indigenous Relations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The higher incomes are in the offshore corporate fishery, for sure, and are very similar to what's being described in the west. At the same time, some of the high incomes in the inshore are associated with the shellfish phenomenon that certainly wasn't there historically.
Other factors may be a consideration. I'm not talking about transferability. I'm just speaking to length of season, abundance and available resources. I know from my experiences of the past 12 months that salmon fisheries in British Columbia can be very short.
It's really about the resource, I think, in terms of what's available to harvesters to harvest. It may have factors like crew availability as well, and the level of compensation being provided.
I'm sorry. I don't know very much about the Maritimes and Quebec, but in Newfoundland and Labrador, we have gone through periods where crew availability has been a challenge when the oil industry was booming more than it is now.
There may be other factors like that, but I can't think of any specific transferable examples of management that would impact the incomes.