Fisheries Committee on May 13th, 2019

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Hutchinson.

Mr. Sargent, will you be able to table with the clerk, by the end of the day on Wednesday, the risk mitigation plan that the department currently has for oil spill recovery?

[Timothy Sargent]

On spill recovery....

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

We would work with the clerk of the committee to provide that within the time limit.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Hutchinson.

Mr. Sargent, can you table with the clerk, by the end of the day on Wednesday, any management plans that you have to improve the efficiency of the Canadian Coast Guard?

Did you want to defer on that one, too?

[Timothy Sargent]

Sure.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Sargent, it was directed at you as the deputy.

[Timothy Sargent]

Well, I'll take guidance from the chair on that, but I think we're here to answer your questions to the best of our ability. I would submit that the official who's best placed to answer that will be the one to provide the best answer.

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

Working with the clerk of the committee, we'd be pleased to provide the management plans that we have.

I'm trying to think of specifics related to efficiency. We'll try to put an emphasis on that as we provide information.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

I appreciate that. Thank you, Mr. Hutchinson.

I'll turn the rest of my time over to Mr. Arnold.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. Sargent, I don't see it anywhere. I haven't picked up on it anywhere in the estimates yet, but unreported and unregulated fisheries have continuously been pointed to, both in international waters and even more specifically in some of our river systems. We've previously brought this to the attention of the former deputy minister, who seemed quite interested in following up on this.

Is there anything in your work plan that would look at unreported and unregulated fisheries? We know that in order to manage any fish stocks, you need to know not only what's there, but what's being taken. Have you done anything or have you been briefed on any of that?

[Adam Burns, Director General, Fisheries Resource Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

There are a variety of elements to the question you've asked.

Internationally, we're engaged in fora around illegal and unreported fishing. Domestically, in terms of, for example, ensuring that we're aware of the recreational catch, we have engaged in a series of consultations on the east coast around establishing a recreational licence, seeking the views of harvesters there, and that's an important step in seeking further information.

We're also engaged in developing electronic logbook programs, again, to further enhance the information—

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

That's offshore. I asked specifically about in-river fisheries, the unreported and unregulated fishing that's taking place in our river systems.

[Adam Burns]

I think what you're getting at is the enforcement piece.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

I'm asking in terms of even getting a handle on it. It seemed to be a foreign subject when I asked the question six or eight months ago, but it has developed a lot of interest. Has that interest even been brought to you in a briefing?

[Timothy Sargent]

Our conservation and protection branch is very engaged in understanding the extent to which there is illegal or unreported fishing. They have many investigations under way. I can't comment on specific ones, obviously, but it's something we take very seriously. We need to understand what the total catch is that's being taken out of a given river system.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Arnold. You've gone over the time.

Mr. Johns, you have seven minutes or less, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you all for being here.

I'll start with the question I asked the minister earlier, about the commercial fleet not being able to fish until August 20. Obviously a chunk of the sports sector is going to be catch-and-release, which is having a huge impact on their sector. We've asked for extended EI money to be supported through tourism or Destination Canada to help support the sector, and compensation or releasing some of the Pacific Salmon Treaty money.

Mr. Sargent, have you given recommendations to the minister about tools he can use to help support the commercial and sports sector fleets?

[Timothy Sargent]

Obviously the advice and recommendations we give to the minister are confidential, but what I can say is that we did a lot of consultations before this decision was made. As you know, we have a whole process set up to do that.

Nevertheless, there are significant impacts, particularly on the commercial sector, which you talked about. Certainly we're very conscious of that. The minister spoke about it quite eloquently beforehand.

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

One thing people in the commercial fleet often ask about, especially the area G trollers, is whether that $17 million is still sitting there—the money from the Pacific Salmon Treaty—without collecting interest. Can you confirm that it's not collecting interest? What is the plan for that money?

[Timothy Sargent]

Do you know? Does it collect interest?

[Jen O'Donoughue]

To my knowledge, it doesn't collect interest at this time.

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

When you look at the history of it, this money was intended to be there to compensate area G trollers. We've exhausted the buyback program. What is the plan right now for that money?

[Adam Burns]

I think the minister did speak a little bit to that earlier. He said it was something he's looking at. We don't have specific—

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

I've heard that for a few months, and I heard it from Minister LeBlanc when he was the minister.

Speaking of the minister, going back, I worked with Minister LeBlanc very closely and with the previous commissioner, Jody Thomas, on the Coast Guard. We tabled a motion in the House on the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary especially for remote and indigenous communities. Commissioner Hutchinson, maybe we could get an update—it was following the Leviathan II disaster. It affects those nations and we have been working closely with them. Maybe you could provide us with an update on where that's at.

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

The Coast Guard Auxiliary, particularly for indigenous people and for remote communities, has moved forward in a very meaningful way both in the Arctic and on the west coast since the implementation of OPP.

For example, on the west coast, we have worked with indigenous communities to form a board to oversee the implementation of the auxiliary. We're now consulting with individual communities. It's not something we want to force on anybody; it's something we want to give the communities the opportunity to participate in. Last year, the community boats program delivered four boats to communities that may not otherwise have been able to participate in the auxiliary. That increased by a significant number this year. I think we confirmed 13 boats this past year.

In the Arctic, we have used the existing framework to expand auxiliary training into many communities. I have the number 16 in my head—if I'm wrong on that, I'll correct it later, sir.

The last point, going back to the west coast for a second, is that our training programs have now trained over 50 indigenous participants from 30 different communities. This means that 30 communities now have very capable, well-trained people to go and respond. You may have heard the story before—I ask your forgiveness if I'm repeating it—but we trained some folks from the Prince Rupert area. Within weeks of them going back to their community, I was in one of our helicopters when they called us and said they had just used their training to find somebody they wouldn't have found otherwise.