Evidence of meeting #137 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 river.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Serge Doucet  Regional Director General, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Doug Bliss  Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Bill Taylor  President and Chief Executive Officer, Atlantic Salmon Federation
George Ginnish  Chief Executive Officer, North Shore Mi’gmaq District Council, Eel Ground First Nation
Mark Hambrook  President, Miramichi Salmon Association Inc.
Deborah Norton  President, Miramichi Watershed Management Committee Inc.
John Pugh  President, New Brunswick Salmon Council
John Bagnall  Chair, Fisheries Committee, New Brunswick Salmon Council

4:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald

Good afternoon, everyone. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), we are studying the impact of the rapid increase in striped bass in the Miramichi River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

For the first part of our meeting this afternoon, we have from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Mr. Serge Doucet, the regional director general for the gulf region, and Mr. Doug Bliss, regional director of science for the gulf region.

We welcome both of you to our study this afternoon. When you're ready, you can make your presentation.

4:05 p.m.

Serge Doucet Regional Director General, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First, thank you for inviting us today. This is an opportunity for us to discuss the future of striped bass, a valued species that presents great potential but that should, at the same time, remain the subject of close monitoring.

The Gulf Region includes a wide area covering 240,000 square kilometres, bordering 7,000 kilometres of coastline. It has less than 1% of Canada's waters but accounts for 15% of the total catch value of all Canadian fisheries. In 2017, a total of 11,261 fish harvesters caught 83,014 tons of fish and crustaceans worth an approximate landed value of $838 million.

The importance of fishing and aquaculture in our corner of the country cannot be understated. Entire communities are built around those industries and they expect us at DFO to help protect and manage the resource. To that effect, one-third of our workforce is dedicated to science. Our scientists work in labs, conduct surveys in the field or do research on various species, marine protected areas or species at risk. Ongoing consultation and engagement with our partners from fishing communities, industry and first nations allow us to make the right decisions based on scientific data and facts.

However, science itself is insufficient. The gulf region has more than 100 fisheries officers working in communities and coastal areas to enforce regulations under the Fisheries Act.

The recent history of striped bass is a good news story. From depleted populations in the mid-1990s, striped bass has now rebounded to the levels we see today.

Now, some have suggested that there may be a link between that increase in striped bass populations and the decreased populations of Atlantic salmon.

However, studies by DFO have not been able to establish such a direct causality. In fact, a decline in the abundance of Atlantic salmon has taken place in all areas of eastern North America, including places where there are no striped bass, or the phenomenon of striped bass increase has not taken place. Similar declines in the population of Atlantic salmon are also being recorded in the European range.

A variety of factors could explain the decrease in salmon populations. For instance, we can no longer ignore the warming climate, which led to unprecedented angling closures in 2018 as rivers reached temperatures lethal to Atlantic salmon, a species best suited to colder water. Striped bass is native to the Miramichi River system, but it ranges all the way to Florida and has proven well adapted to warmer waters.

The study of aquatic species is very intricate. In managing one species, the realities of other species occupying a same ecosystem have to be taken into account. More studies are needed if we are to understand what is going on, and that's what our scientists are doing.

We believe in an adaptive approach to improving resource management, exploring alternatives to meet management objectives, predicting outcomes and using the results to update knowledge and adjust management actions. As part of our adaptive approach, we've increased recreational access to striped bass and established a pilot for commercial access for first nations.

Striped bass is a valued species that does have the potential to become a considerable economic driver in our region. Its recovery is a positive story, but we must remain prudent. The population of spawners decreased by two-thirds between our 2017 and 2018 stock assessments, possibly due to the thicker than usual ice coverage during that winter. This is reminder that bass populations are much more variable than those of salmon, and a few bad years could result in a catastrophic decline.

On this, my colleague Doug Bliss will now add more scientific insight on the subject.

April 1st, 2019 / 4:05 p.m.

Doug Bliss Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Thank you, members of the committee, for allowing me to speak to you today concerning what science knows about striped bass and planned science activities moving forward.

My name is Doug Bliss, and I am the director of the science branch for the gulf region of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. It's our scientific staff, located in Moncton, New Brunswick, and our Miramichi River research station, located at South Esk, who conduct the federal government's striped bass science program in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

I'll start by briefly showing the range and distribution of this native species. Striped bass is a saltwater bass, and is native to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Striped bass, with all other diadromous species that live in both fresh and salt water, including Atlantic salmon, have evolved together in rivers in eastern North America since the retreat of the last ice age. You can see in this range map a graphic showing the extent of striped bass, ranging from northern Florida to Canada. We are at the northern extent of its range.

Generally speaking, our striped bass are shorter, smaller, and shorter-lived than those found in the United States, where the the core of their population live. Many of you will know of the seasonal movements of striped bass in the Miramichi River. After spawning, they leave the river and migrate to coastal areas to feed. In the late fall, they return to estuaries, not just the Miramichi, and spend the winter under the ice in what we call a torpid state. That means they do not move very much, nor do they feed until waters start to warm up. Upon spawning in the northwest Miramichi River, typically mid-May to mid-June, they rapidly move to the sea and repeat their annual cycle.

We have records of striped bass being harvested commercially in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence dating back 102 years, as illustrated in this graphic. Note the pattern of high harvest being followed by declining harvests a hundred ago in the 1920s, and more recently in the 1980s. Through such harvest records, we infer that population levels follow similar trends.

In the interest of time, I will not dwell on this slide about the status of species at risk or of striped bass, but I will just say that in 2012, seven years ago, all the populations of striped bass in Canada were assessed to be at some level of risk of extinction.

With regard to striped bass abundance, Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists have been monitoring the spawning population of striped bass in the Miramichi since 1994. This is a 24-year dataset consistently measured in the same way every year, and so it is the only reliable indicator of whether the striped bass population in the southern gulf is growing or shrinking. You will notice that we started monitoring striped bass in 1994, before the population crash. The population crashed in 1996, and was at critically low levels for five years. This was followed by some modest growth for another six years, after which there was consistent growth trend after 2006, peaking in 2017.

If we have learned something about this species in the last two decades, it is that it can go through rapid population increases and decreases in relatively short periods of time. Why this happens is something we are seeking to understand. This is why it is important, when considering the status of a population of fish or other wildlife, to look at the trend over a number of years. The population estimates for the upcoming year, 2019, which we will produce at the end of this calendar year, will be very important for us to assess whether the population seems to be continuing to increase, decrease, or stabilize.

Last, I would like to take a moment to explain our federal science activities and to let you know of our plans to conduct more science on this species. We have been monitoring the adult striped bass in a consistent way since 1994. We tag striped bass every year in order to monitor their movements in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence and, more recently, farther north. We have tried to determine whether there are other established spawning areas for striped bass a number of years ago, but we will undertake such studies once again. We have directly measured the consumption of salmon young, or smolts, and many other species by striped bass. We have worked in partnership with other organizations, such as the Atlantic Salmon Federation, on determining indirect estimates of predation. We plan to continued such collaborative studies on diet. We are using technologies that were not available to us even a few years ago to better understand striped bass and their habitats.

Currently, we are undertaking proof-of-concept development of environmental DNA to easily test for the presence or absence of striped bass in rivers. We are transferring our expertise in acoustic measurements of fish for marine species such as herring and applying this technology on the river, advancing technology on the river to see if we can more accurately and rapidly assess the population of striped bass adults before the fishing season. The picture on the lower right corner of the slide indicates our crew out there in the winter testing this technology through the ice on the Miramichi River.

We intend to do much of this new science in collaboration with interested research and science partners. Our proposed science plan is split into three parts to provide biological reference points for the species; to examine or re-examine recurring questions about the species, such as striped bass diet measurements and assessing whether other spawning areas exist; and finally, to undertake focused studies to understand the environmental stresses and ecosystem dynamics influencing this and many other species.

Thank you.

4:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald

Thank you, gentlemen, for that presentation.

Before we go to the questioning, I would like to recognize René Arseneault, MP for Madawaska—Restigouche, on the government side. As well, welcome back to Mr. Sopuck, from the riding of Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa.

Welcome, gentlemen.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Robert Sopuck Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB

Thank you.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald

I know we were a little bit late starting due to a vote. Would it be okay if we agreed to do one round of seven minutes for this particular session? It will go a little past 3:30, but not much. It will give each party a chance to get at least a few questions in.

Mr. Finnigan, for seven minutes or fewer, please.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Pat Finnigan Liberal Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the officials, Monsieur Serge Doucet and Doug Bliss, for being here with us today.

This study of striped bass is something that I wanted to get in, because I live on the Miramichi and I have been talking to the people, the stakeholders. I've been to several meetings. We're going to have a chance to question some of the stakeholders after this second hour.

One of the questions I'm always asking, which people are sometimes confused about, is how the science is applied and how the numbers come about. Before the explosion of the population, for instance, one of the major questions.... We never closed the river for the spawning season, and now we are in this...over a million spawners, and we decided to close the river. Those things are not very consistent with science.

Can you explain that? Do you have a reference number for when you start doing things to manage the population?

Either of you can answer, Serge or Doug.

4:15 p.m.

Regional Director General, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Serge Doucet

I think my colleague Doug is probably better equipped to answer that question.

4:15 p.m.

Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Doug Bliss

Mr. Finnigan, we use traditional techniques used throughout wildlife science to measure the fish, called “mark-recapture” techniques, which essentially involve tagging fish and recaptioning them at some location later, and from that you can infer their population. It's what is done in virtually all wildlife fields. That's the technique we use. In our trap nets on the Miramichi, we're also tagging fish consistently and tracking them throughout the Gulf of Saint Lawrence for their movements. But I think the most important thing for us is that we now have a long-term dataset, and even though it may not be the perfect monitoring system, we can develop trends, which is most important for wildlife management.

In terms of how it gets applied, I can assure you that every year when we produce our reports that are made public through the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat—done in January of this year—our fisheries management folks undertake to take a look at the status of the population. As you can see from the past few years, there's been an adaptive management approach to science indicators and management response.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Pat Finnigan Liberal Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB

You spoke a little while ago about why we have those cycles—going up and down. Apparently this last year we had striped bass all the way up to Labrador, something that apparently has never been seen before. Why do you think this is happening to a greater extent? Does it have anything to do with the warming of the waters, or do you have any other theories?

4:15 p.m.

Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Doug Bliss

In terms of what happened in 2017, you can see a peak in the graph of our estimate of the average number of fish there. There were close to a million. Why the fish decided to “prospect”, as we call it, into further areas in the north in that particular year is unknown. It's exactly what happened, though. It would seem that they collectively decided to go out and prospect to see if there were other places to live. They were observed as far north as Lake Melville in Labrador. We know that many of them were captured by commercial trawls around the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. Subsequently, from many, many reports, many of those fish....

As usually happens with wildlife species, these probably weren't the adult fish. These were juveniles. They were teenagers. We see this all the time with wildlife species. They do stupid things like stay in the north. So we think they stayed in the rivers they went to and that most of them died because of the cold conditions during the winter.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Pat Finnigan Liberal Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB

Bobby, do you have a question, because we only have seven minutes on this one?

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Sure. Thanks.

Mr. Doucet, I believe you said there's no evidence of a direct cause that striped bass are affecting the stock of other species. Am I correct on that?

4:20 p.m.

Regional Director General, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Serge Doucet

Yes. I think what I was trying to convey there, Mr. Morrissey, was that we know that striped bass are predators and that they will feed on salmon smolts, but it's not definitive that it's the only cause of the reduction of Atlantic salmon stocks in the rivers. It's not direct causality. Other elements are causing Atlantic salmon to decline, not only in our rivers but I guess in the rivers across the world too.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

You made reference to a warming climate as one possible cause-effect.

4:20 p.m.

Regional Director General, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Serge Doucet

It's one of the elements that I believe we've continued to be consistent—

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Do you have data on how much the water is warming over a cyclical period or a defined period? And could you table that with the committee?

4:20 p.m.

Regional Director General, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Serge Doucet

We do have some of that data.

4:20 p.m.

Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Doug Bliss

We didn't have time to put it in the deck today, but we have a long time series that shows—

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

If you want to look at July or August or any particular month, how far back can you go?

4:20 p.m.

Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Doug Bliss

We go back with air temperature, and we make reference to water temperature. We have air temperature records going back to the late 1800s.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

From that, have you seen a significant change?

4:20 p.m.

Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Doug Bliss

There is an augmentation of average river temperature over time that is consistent and continuing.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE

Interesting. Can you provide that to the committee?

4:20 p.m.

Regional Director, Science, Gulf Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Doug Bliss

Yes, we can.