Evidence of meeting #145 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 million.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC
To ensure that you get the most accurate information, I will ask Jen to speak to that.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
In terms of the oceans protection plan, there has been over $800 million announced, so work is ongoing.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Sorry, announcements are great, but how much has been spent? There's been $1.5 billion, really, announced.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
In terms of spending, although the numbers for 2018-19 aren't final, and we're still closing the books, we're now at approximately $325 million spent, to date.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
It is a little bit lower than the initial allocation, once the projects were actually planned out. Some of the larger capital projects are taking a little longer.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We'll have to go back and actually look at that number for you. They are still on track to achieve results within the five-year time frame.
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Will you be able to also provide the committee with a list of the initiatives, including information such as geographic location, amount of funding and description of the projects, that have been funded by the oceans protection plan?
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
In terms of funding?
Assistant Deputy Minister and Chief Financial Officer, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Yes, we can work with the clerk to provide that.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
And not just announced, but money spent as well. If we can get those separated, that would be great.
I have a question for the minister. I want to follow up on the oceans protection plan. Does the technology to clean up dilbit still exist?
Liberal
Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC
There's obviously a lot of science that goes into answering that question, and some of that comes from scientists within the government. Some of it comes from reports, such as the Council of the Royal Society report that was done a few years ago, which was actually led by a scientist from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
For any hydrocarbon that's spilled in a marine or an aqueous environment, the most critical issue is how quickly you get to the spill; that is, the amount—
Liberal
Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC
In the work that's been done to date, diluted bitumen behaves very similarly in a marine environment to other forms of conventional crude. How much you can clean up depends on how quickly you get there. Certainly, the technology exists to ensure you can actually do most of it. In the context, for example, in Burnaby, when there was a spill from land that went into the ocean, it was almost 90% plus that was cleaned up.
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
In terms of one thing, I will definitely commend the government on the increased support for the indigenous participation in commercial fisheries. I hope that will be targeted to the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation fishery and the Ahousaht v. Canada case, as well as a resolution to that. I'm not looking for a comment, I just wanted to state that.
In terms of aquaculture, the future of salmon aquaculture is closed containment. We know that. The technology exists. It's economically feasible and the perspective jobs and economic opportunities are immense.
A recent report published by the Fraser Basin Council concluded that 4,000 jobs would be created during the construction phase of recirculating the aquaculture systems and facilities. An additional 2,685 full-time, long-term jobs would be created through the operation and fish processing from land-based aquaculture facilities located on Vancouver Island.
Will the government follow the Washington example and transition the salmon farming to save closed containment?
Liberal
Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC
As you know, we have taken significant steps to further evolve the whole approach with respect to aquaculture, and that involves moving toward area-based management. It involves much more rigorous framework for risk assessment, and it involves studying the issues around closed containment.
The Fraser Basin Council report was a very interesting and useful report. What it did show though was that the internal rates of return for these types of facilities are extremely low at this stage, so we need to do more work, either to validate those results or to find ways to improve the economic position of closed containment farms.
We would all be interested in seeing some form of transition, but it needs to be an economically viable one. We are presently working with the Government of British Columbia on a study that is helping to form policy in that regard.
NDP
Liberal
Jonathan Wilkinson Liberal North Vancouver, BC
Washington state made a specific decision with respect to open net-pen farms. That doesn't mean it has a closed containment industry.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
It's moving away from it. It made it very clear that that's what it is doing.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
I'm hoping, and we're encouraging you to do the same.
Will you commit to working with the province to save the remaining endangered interior Fraser salmon and steelhead, and immediately establish a test select fishery in the Fraser?