Fisheries Committee on June 14th, 2016

[Dr. Arran McPherson]

Some of the baseline information would definitely be used in those other processes and some of the investment that was announced last week on the proposed work plan would also be used to fund the specific measures in specific locations.

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

How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Robert Sopuck]

You have one minute.

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

I was at a B.C. seafood expo last week in Comox and took in a session on citizen science. It's a program they have going on in the Salish Sea, whereby a number of volunteer retired fishermen take hard data measurements to provide ocean temperatures, clarity, and so on. Are there any plans to direct some of the new resources to backing up that type of system across the country?

[Dr. Arran McPherson]

That's an excellent question, and an excellent suggestion, if it was a suggestion.

We're just not there yet. This is still very new. We haven't decided how all of our partnership funds will be used, but we do have an element in the ocean observation investment specifically for working with others, so that opportunity would be available.

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

Thank you.

I think my time's up.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Robert Sopuck]

That's pretty well time.

Go ahead, Mr. Donnelly, for three minutes.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I want to go to species at risk. DFO indicated...and I have a quote here, that “We will increase research and monitoring of marine mammals, including those that are considered at risk, to better understand their population dynamics.”

Can you talk a little bit about which marine mammals you mean, and tell us which are prioritized for the department?

[Dr. Arran McPherson]

Thank you for your question.

Our marine mammal science program is delivered through a centre of expertise that brings together all the different research scientists across the country who work on marine mammals, because it's a specific research domain. This new investment will see their research budget for monitoring increase substantially, almost threefold, so there will be definitely more work done on marine mammals.

They're working on their five-year plan right now, so I can't give you the exact list of what we're going to work on after this year. I know that this year what we're doing with those resources is participating in a survey for marine mammals that's running throughout the U.S. and up the coast from the Bay of Fundy to northern Labrador. We'll be synchronizing the research survey with the U.S. such that we'll have a comprehensive assessment of all the marine mammals on the northwest Atlantic.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

I'll ask a specific question about orcas and Pacific killer whales. Will they be on the list?

[Dr. Arran McPherson]

Absolutely.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Switching gears to the ELA for a second, you've already talked about the Experimental Lakes Area, but can you talk specifically about how the department will provide support for the operation?

[Dr. Arran McPherson]

We are already three years into an agreement with IISD, the operator of the Experimental Lakes Area, which was for a million dollars—$250,000 a year for four years—and this is year three. These new monies will be in addition to that.

We've been in discussions with the Experimental Lakes Area for the past weeks and months to finalize the work plan. Because it hasn't been finalized with them, I can't share the details today, but it will be research that's relevant to DFO's mandate, and of interest to them as well.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

A research paper published in October of 2015 indicated that federal ocean policy and management have diverged substantially from marine science. Key areas where this is apparent include the failure to implement the Oceans Act, alterations to habitat protection, and lack of federal leadership on marine species at risk.

Will the new investments help address this ocean and freshwater research in managing of the network of MPAs?

[Dr. Arran McPherson]

This research will certainly help provide the science foundation for that work, and for species at risk as well, because this type of science information will inform the management measures that the rest of the department and others need to take.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Robert Sopuck]

We'll allow one more question.

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

I was just going to go back to Mr. Finnigan's question about GM salmon. Maybe Mr. Parsons....

The DFO officials weren't part of that recent announcement with Health Canada and CFIA, but we had a scientist at our committee recently who reported that GM salmon, if released into the wild, would be high risk.

Now, you've said that this would never happen, that the salmon that are raised in our hatcheries in Canada or our concrete facilities.... In terms of the transportation in trucks or anything else, can you 100% guarantee that these salmon would never get out into the wild?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Robert Sopuck]

Just a short answer, please. We're running out of time.

[Dr. Jay Parsons]

I think the question was if there would be any intentional releases, and certainly I'm not aware of any intentional release.

In terms of the assessment we did on that particular application, we assessed it for its containment abilities, both physical and biological, and our assessment suggested that there would be very low risk of any escape, based on the several redundant physical containments throughout the whole process, whether it's the actual production, transportation, or grow-out of these systems, including biological containment as well.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Robert Sopuck]

Thank you very much. That's time.

I would like to thank our witnesses for their expert testimony. It was very interesting.

Sorry, Mr. Hardie, your name wasn't on the list. I will indulge you, because we have so much time. You have three minutes.

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

We've just gone through quite a dislocation in Alberta with the collapse of the oil industry, but it reminded me of the terrible dislocation in eastern Canada when the cod stocks collapsed. In deference to my colleagues from that part of the country, I wanted to talk about the recovery, or lack of recovery, in the cod stock.

Has this been a focus of ongoing DFO research, and will there perhaps be additional resources put to it? When the time comes for us to do the study, which is pretty soon, will we have people to call on who can inform our discussions in this area?

[Dr. Blair Greenan]

I could comment on the oceanography side.

In 1998, the department established a monitoring program for oceanography, including physics, chemistry, and the lower trophic level biology up to zooplankton level, because we were unable to answer questions at that time as to whether changes in the ocean environment had some responsibility in the collapse of the cod stock. We now have almost 20 years of environmental data that can provide information about the changing environment. That will be useful for future research on the cod stock.

I cannot speak specifically on the fishery side, because I am not an expert in that area, but we certainly have an ongoing collection of data in the ocean environment that can inform that.

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

As a result of the new funding, will additional resources be put into examining why the cod haven't come back?

[Dr. Arran McPherson]

There will be additional resources put into fishery science in the Newfoundland and Labrador region. Those resources will be available to help answer questions like the one you've addressed, and those questions might change. In five years from now, it might be different questions.

We do have a substantial cod program in Newfoundland and Labrador region, and these funds will only augment that.

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

I'll close with a quick comment.

I used the word “continuity” a little while ago. As you launch the new initiatives, the message back to government—whoever that government may be—is that once you get started, it's really hard to cut it back and lose the traction that you had, because once it's lost, it's almost impossible to gain that ground back again.

Therefore—note to self—put the money in and keep it there. Let's see if we can grow it a little, but by all means keep the continuity intact, because that's what good science is all about. Wouldn't you agree?

Of course you would.