Fisheries Committee on April 1st, 2019

[Chief George Ginnish]

We're not feeling the love.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Okay.

[Chief George Ginnish]

I think the 25,000 DFO had mentioned was a number they had come to. We have a striped bass proposal for this year. We're supposed to do 25,000 in the fall and 25,000 in the spring, and we're asking for 50,000 right up front in the spring.

We've had two fall starts. The licence landed here in July last year after all the fish were gone and then in the fall Mother Nature decided that winter was going to come early so we were out there for three weeks. We didn't even make a dent in the fish.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Chief Ginnish, can you speak to what 50,000 would do for your community in terms of the economy and food security for your nation?

[Chief George Ginnish]

Fifty thousand would be a commercial fishery. We feel it would be a sustainable fishery. It would be based on the numbers that are available and, hopefully, based on.... You could say that if all we need is 30,000 for the species to survive and there are 300,000 now, there shouldn't be any problem with our community fishing for 50,000 to support a community that's 40% food insecure and has over 20% unemployment.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Right. And I think you've identified your commitment to conservation, by pulling your nets when you saw the numbers were low on the other side.

[Chief George Ginnish]

Yes.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Like the Nuu-chah-nulth, they understand that protection of the species is a priority, obviously, but they also want to share the economic prosperity when the opportunity comes along.

[Chief George Ginnish]

If we don't look after conservation and long-term sustainability, we'll all pay the price.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

That's right.

Ms. Norton, I really enjoyed visiting your place on the river a couple of years ago. You talked about the economic impact for the recreation and sport fish industry. There were 13 recommendations that came out of the report, I believe. Perhaps you could speak about what's happened since with implementing the recommendations since we were there and the impact on the economy, or potential for the economy, for recreational and sport fishers and how this might be relative to today's conversation.

[Deborah Norton]

I may be amiss in my information, but to my knowledge none of the recommendations have gone anywhere. As far as economic benefits are concerned, Bill already spoke to the fact there are hundreds and hundreds of jobs. The fishery is very important. It is our culture. It is our heritage. My roots don't go back that far. They only go back to 1823, of living on the bank of the river, but that's the same story that many people will tell you up and down the river. I have to tell you, people are scared to death. There are people who have earned their living doing nothing except guiding and outfitting, and they see their way of life disappearing before their eyes. They're scared to death because they're losing.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

What do you suggest? What are the next steps, Ms. Norton, that are the right steps forward?

[Deborah Norton]

Develop that upper reference point. Look to manage the watershed in equilibrium. Create environmental things that are going to help the river, like cold water, as Chief George suggested. Work with our provincial people and hopefully increase our buffer zones. There's no easy answer. It's everything.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

I agree.

I still have one minute, Mr. Chair? Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

You have a little less.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Okay. Mr. Taylor, just—

[John Bagnall]

Can I say something?

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Just one second. I'm going to ask Mr. Taylor a quick question.

You talked about DFO in action. Can you speak a bit more about that?

[Bill Taylor]

It would take a long time to cover the watershed. But all joking aside, I think there were actually 19 recommendations—

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Right.

[Bill Taylor]

—by the standing committee that were outstanding, and the ministerial advisory committee before that, which I co-chaired....

There has been some action on some of the recommendations, but far too few. There are two recommendations specific to the striped bass fishery, which is what this committee is looking at right now. What we need is that upper stock reference point. I would suggest that the recovery target the DFO set of 31,200 is your bottom. That's the floor. It's somewhere between that and the 300,000 that we see today. For the 333,000 that we talk about—the steep decline from a million to 333,000 spawners—that's the spawning-sized striped bass. That's the second-highest on record.

I think that's enough said.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Johns. I know we've gone to the point that we had allocated time-wise for this, but I think in our next hour we to deal with drafting instructions. We probably have time to do a five-minute round, if everyone is in agreement, for questions. I would remind people that there are a couple of guests on the telephone who a couple of times have tried to get in, but the questioner didn't really hear or recognize them, so keep that in mind.

We'll go to the government side now for five minutes or less. Mr. Hardie.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

No, I wouldn't have any questions on this one. I'm sorry, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Somebody said you did.

Oh, Mr. Arseneault. When you're ready, please, you have five minutes or less.