No, it's there.
Evidence of meeting #13 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 rivers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #13 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 rivers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Bluenose Coastal Action Foundation
No, it's there. They have both bass and chain pickerel.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Okay.
I grew up on the LaHave River, and it was very rare for us to see a seal. Now it's very rare if you don't see a seal in the LaHave River. Do you think they're also part of the problem on the LaHave?
4:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Bluenose Coastal Action Foundation
Yes, I do. We don't have any specific research on that ourselves. If you speak to the members of the LaHave River Salmon Association, you'll hear that it's one of their big beliefs that seals are a major problem with those returns to the LaHave.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Do you think, then, that the primary invasive species are the chain pickerel and the smallmouth bass? You mentioned that there was an invasive species in the LaHave that might be causing a lot of the decline in the population. Is that the primary problem?
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I have another question for you. Are the initiatives you're working on right now being shared with other organizations and bodies across Atlantic Canada? If so, can you tell me a bit about that collaboration?
4:35 p.m.
Executive Director, Bluenose Coastal Action Foundation
Sure. Right now, a lot of the work we're doing on salmon is in partnering with other groups within the Southern Uplands region. I mentioned the Southern Uplands salmon collaborative working group with DFO. That's mainly the group that we're working with on salmon issues.
We do work on other species and we have other collaborations across the Atlantic region, using the former ACAP network, the Atlantic coastal action program network of groups that was formed in the early 1990s. We collaborate as a larger group on other issues across the Atlantic region.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Thank you.
My next question is for you, Mr. Roach.
What do you think the best focus of this committee would be, given that the minister’s advisory committee on wild salmon, with you as chair, studied this issue last year and that the Senate is now studying it? What gap or void would be most useful for us to look at so that we're not replicating studies?
4:35 p.m.
Chair, Minister's Advisory Committee on Wild Atlantic Salmon, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I think there's an opportunity to build on the work that was completed. We spent quite a bit of time networking with all stakeholders and partners—scientific partners and resource user partners—to put the information and the recommendations in there, so of course we would like to see those gain some traction. They could also be used in concert with the wild Atlantic salmon conservation policy, which is on the books and has never really been implemented, and it's up for renewal.
Between the recommendations and report we put forward and the wild Atlantic salmon policy that will be renewed, there's a lot of material to start acting on. We can study forever, or we can start actually taking some actions, particularly the ones that cost us very little. That's kind of what we're hoping for.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Okay.
Mr. Roach, one of the main recommendations of the report from the minister's advisory committee was the creation of a wild salmon research and innovation fund. Could you give me more information on this and how it is different from the management program currently being administered by DFO?
4:40 p.m.
Chair, Minister's Advisory Committee on Wild Atlantic Salmon, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Basically, what we are recommending is dedicating additional funds for wild Atlantic salmon. The funds could be for a period of time. We didn't set an amount, but you know what can be available, I guess. Whatever is possible is what we would recommend
We avoided an amount, but it should be a substantial fund that would be available for people doing work on habitat improvement or scientific work, or perhaps for some other programs that would be helpful for both land-based survivorship and at-sea research, or even on-shore research.
One thing I should mention is that there are freshwater concerns, not just at-sea concerns, particularly with the acid rivers in Nova Scotia. That's a major problem for a number of rivers that at one time were extremely productive.
We didn't put a number forward, but that fund could be established and then used for the many partners who work on Atlantic salmon in collaboration with DFO. Perhaps some of the money could be used specifically by DFO and some by the partners. We suggested a scientific forum to ensure that there's collaboration on that work as well.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Okay. Thank you.
To Dr. Hutchings, we heard on Monday from DFO and just now from Ms. Nodding that although everybody seems to think that seals play a role in the decline, there haven't been a lot of scientific studies done to determine whether or not that is actually the case.
I'm just wondering how long it would take to carry out a stomach content analysis on seals. It was one of the recommendations from the advisory committee. How long would that be?
4:40 p.m.
Professor of Biology, Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation and Biodiversity, Dalhousie University, As an Individual
I think there are two ways to respond.
In terms of doing a seal diet study, in principle it wouldn't take that long. In a couple of years you could have some information. The issue at hand, though, might be how many seal stomachs you would have to examine before you were able to meaningfully estimate the mortality that they're inflicting on salmon. If you picked the right seals, you might find that relatively few were consuming quite a lot, but you don't know that beforehand.
All that is to say that if seal predation were quite a substantive issue and they were eating lots of salmon smolts, then I think any typical diet study with seals, which would take a couple of years, might be able to detect that, but it might also be more important in some rivers than others. I would encourage the committee to think very carefully but strategically when making recommendations as to whether you're thinking about salmon throughout its entire range in Canada or whether it might make more sense to focus and prioritize on some key troubling rivers or areas.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC
Thank you very much to all of the witnesses.
Mr. Taylor, you mentioned that Quebec had tried to make some changes to tags on the licences, but that legislative change is required from DFO to enable that to happen. Could you just elaborate on that so that perhaps we could make that recommendation?
4:40 p.m.
President, Atlantic Salmon Federation
Absolutely. It would be an important one.
DFO has the responsibility for regulating, for managing, Atlantic salmon in the four Atlantic provinces. Quebec has that responsibility for its rivers. Quebec is an excellent model for river management. A lot of local associations manage the recreational fishery and do a terrific job as far as wardens, habitat renewal, and so on are concerned.
When you buy a licence in Quebec, you get seven tags, so you can kill seven fish. On some rivers you can actually take seven large fish. The Quebec government did a consultation process last year almost simultaneously with the advisory committee and the work we were doing. There was strong support from anglers in Quebec to reduce the number of tags from seven to four, with only one large fish tag. The other three tags would be for use on grilse, or smaller salmon.
Unfortunately, that couldn't be implemented in 2016 because it requires a legislative change, which is a DFO responsibility. Hopefully it will be in place for 2017.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
4:45 p.m.
President, Atlantic Salmon Federation
No, no. In order for the Province of Quebec to change the number of tags it issues, that requires a legislative change, which is the responsibility of the DFO.
4:45 p.m.
President, Atlantic Salmon Federation
That's in the works for 2017. The problem or disappointment is that it could have been implemented this year with the support of Quebec, but it will take two years to get done because of that legislative requirement.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC
Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Roach, I wanted to speak with you a bit about some of your recommendations that dealt with aboriginal food, social, and ceremonial fisheries. We heard previously from DFO officials that there had been some changes in harvest techniques by some aboriginal fishermen in some situations.
Can you speak a bit about those recommendations and the response you received from aboriginal fishermen when you were discussing this issue?
4:45 p.m.
Chair, Minister's Advisory Committee on Wild Atlantic Salmon, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
During the meeting process, we had invited first nations and aboriginal groups to come and present, either directly in person or through written briefs sent to the committee. We had a very strong and very positive response in virtually all cases.
I think the committee observed that there's quite a variety among them, ranging from some really conservation-minded groups to ones that are a little more focused on the harvest of the salmon. To put it cautiously, in some cases the best practices weren't in place, while in other cases they were excellent.
We recognize the rights of the first nations groups for food, social, and ceremonial fishing, but we still felt we should put forward some ideas that DFO could put on the table for discussion points when food fishery plans were established.
One idea involves tending nets regularly. If nets are put out and not addressed every day, let's say, or every week, then the nets fill up and sink, and the salmon are lost. They're not captured and used as a food fishery, but they're still killed.
The positioning of the nets away from the river systems would more likely intercept migrating fish rather than local fish in the area. We spoke to that possibility.
There's also the idea of a takeout period. If there's a very strong run of fish going on or there are very large fish coming through, there would be a period when it would be critical to remove the nets so that the run could go through.
Another idea is using fish traps rather than fishnets. If there's an opportunity to successfully deploy live fish traps, then fish could be taken that would be of a size that would have a smaller impact on conservation. It would also avoid unnecessary mortality.
Those are some of the ideas.
