Fisheries Committee on Sept. 29th, 2016

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

Mr. Chair, I think I can speak quite confidently on this for the rest of the panel. We all know that the two to three hours that we're spending in each community isn't enough, so as much time as we can give the witnesses, I think we're all in agreement with that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

I think you'll find agreement on that—in addition to Pat buying more coffee; we'll all agree on that too.

That said, Ms. Sonja Wood, would you come up to the panel, please? You'll be after Mr. LeBlanc.

Mr. LeBlanc, you have 10 minutes, please.

[David LeBlanc, Chief Executive Officer, Restigouche River Watershed Management Council Inc.]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for the opportunity to share our concerns about the Restigouche River area.

My name is David LeBlanc, and I'm the president and CEO of the Restigouche River Watershed Management Council Inc., founded in 2002. I was born in Matapédia, a village known for its salmon fishing, and located at the convergence of the world-renowned Matapedia and Restigouche Rivers. I'm a biologist by training, and have been part of the organization since 2007. The council is involved in dialogue, conservation and protection of the Restigouche River watershed, including the Matapedia and Patapedia in Quebec, and the Kedgwick, Little Main Restigouche and Upsalquitch Rivers in New Brunswick.

The board of directors is made up of 19 people representing the first nations, the fishing lodges, forestry, the public, eco-tourism, public water managers, and other organizations whose work overlaps with ours.

The Restigouche River watershed is an interprovincial territory of roughly 10,000 square kilometres, 60% of which is in New Brunswick, and 40% of which is in Quebec. Restigouche River salmon is an important food resource for the Listuguj first nation of Quebec and the Eel River Bar first nation of New Brunswick.

According to a 2010 socio-economic study at the University of New Brunswick, private-sector sport fishing in the Restigouche River watershed generated $11.2 million and the equivalent of 535 seasonal jobs that year.

As for the challenges in the Restigouche River watershed, although we are aware that there are other important challenges at sea and in the estuary, I will leave it to other groups—such as the Atlantic Salmon Federation, which you will be welcoming this afternoon—to raise the concerns related to maritime migration.

As a river management organization, our council is primarily concerned with issues affecting the salmon's freshwater life cycle. I will therefore be focusing the rest of my presentation on the main issues observed in our watershed.

These past few years have seen an accentuation of changes to the hydrology, resulting from climate change, and from a failure to take the watersheds into account in forestry management planning.

The notable impacts include riverbank erosion, silt and debris in rivers, and impassable obstacles at insufficiently wide culverts, and at the mouths of tributaries. We recommend that approaches which seek to obtain forestry management models for each watershed, such as the equivalent cutting area approach in Quebec, be adopted for New Brunswick's salmon rivers.

The lack of resources for protection and conservation is a major challenge for the Restigouche River watershed. Since the DFO conservation and protection office in Kedgwick was closed, and its resources were moved outside the area, no fisheries officers have been assigned to our watershed. As a result, very few patrols are deployed, and the response times, which are several hours, result in losses of spawners to poachers.

We recommend having a DFO conservation and protection office on the territory of each watershed of an important salmon river, like the Restigouche. The recruitment system for vacancies should be streamlined, and partnerships, including partnerships with first nations, should be made, to ensure there are more officers in the field.

We believe that, in calculating conservation thresholds, the requisite breeding stock levels are being underestimated, thereby overestimating current stocks. We note that the current management target does not take account of all the habitats juveniles can use to spend the first years of their life cycle. To obtain better management targets, we recommend that the target quantity of eggs required per habitat unit be updated, and that the potential habitats be updated.

Yesterday, on one of the watershed's main tributaries, the Kedgwick River, I took part in the annual salmon count. It's a visual count, done while snorkeling. I can confirm that we are still at roughly 50% of the conservation threshold in the Kedgwick River. Last year, the rate was 49%. Thus, the situation remains critical, even when the underestimate of available habitats is taken into account.

It's a problematic and critical situation, not only for the Miramichi River, which is often mentioned, but, increasingly, for the Restigouche River as well.

We think the sectors involved in science at DFO, and the sectors responsible for habitats at the department, need to cooperate more, so the habitat fragmentation issue can be addressed. We notice that the data obtained in DFO juvenile density inventories are not used to identify obstruction problems.

Let me explain the situation in that regard to you. There are inventories in the field. It's noted that there are habitats that were historically used by juveniles, but when there's no salmon in those habitats, there's no communication with the section at DFO responsible for habitats, to tell them that certain historically used habitats are not currently being used. There's no process in place to connect the science with action on habitat and management. We believe the indicators on the density data, and an increase in the number of sites to assess the presence or absence of juveniles, should make it possible to locate obstacles such as culverts, beaver dams, excessively high waterfalls, and log jams. A monitoring program should be developed to ensure habitat connectivity.

A potential increase in the transportation of oil and gas products by rail, without a complete impact assessment, aggravates the risk to the salmon habitat. For example, in our watershed, the Chaleur Terminals project in Belledune, in which 220 tank cars from Alberta would be transported by rail each day, includes 70 kilometres of track near the Matapédia and Restigouche Rivers. The Quebec government has not carried out any impact assessment in relation to this project.

The presence of a greater variety, and greater numbers, of freshwater predators, poses a risk to the Atlantic salmon. For the past few years, we've been observing more cormorants and striped bass in the Restigouche River. There are even seals. The presence of seals more than 125 kilometres from the ocean was noted in 2015. In 2016, it was confirmed that striped bass were caught for the first time in the Matapedia and Restigouche rivers. We believe predator control could facilitate the recovery of stocks in certain cases.

For several years, we have seen the Government of Canada reduce staffing levels at DFO, with negative effects on management, protection, and coordinated action to benefit the Atlantic salmon. However, we are encouraged by the department's recent reinvestment in human resources, notably for a process that seeks to establish a joint research plan for the species.

We have also benefited from the Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program. We believe it should be maintained and optimized.

The Government of Canada endowment fund, which is administered by the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation, and the interest from which is invested in projects related to Atlantic salmon, is another good example of a strategy that helps various groups like ours carry out several projects per year. Increased investment in these programs, in hiring management, habitat, protection and research staff, and in the endowment fund, can only improve the status of Atlantic salmon stocks, provided the investments are geared toward concrete action.

I'd like to add a few points that are not in the speaking notes I've provided.

Let's talk about the rights to fish for food in the Restigouche River watershed as it affects the New Brunswick stock. Fishing for food is the only kind permitted for Listuguj and Eel River Bar in our area. We think first nations should be included in the monitoring, management and protection of populations. First nations should be made part of those processes. Programs should be put in place to develop capacity for both the protection and monitoring of stocks. DFO should have partnerships, and should keep close tabs, to encourage the first nations to develop and adopt sustainable fishing plans. An example that comes to mind is the Listuguj community, which has been operating independently under a fishing plan since 1993. DFO should also conduct monitoring, to ensure the agreements and licences developed with first nations are complied with.

Lastly, the budget reductions in research, protection, conservation and science are often seen as an easy way to reduce government spending in the short term, but they do not take the medium and long-term impacts into account.

These days, we're unfortunately living with the consequences of the budget cuts from recent years, and the draconian management measures put in place. For example, the mandatory release of all catches in the Maritimes, and, at present, the release of large salmon in most Quebec rivers, are reducing sport fishing markedly.

Last year, in the Restigouche region, the reduction was roughly 35% in public waters, and this year, it was 31% in Quebec. This situation is creating a major revenue shortfall for local organizations and businesses, which, in turn, risk reducing their investments in research and protection.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. LeBlanc.

For 10 minutes, we have Ms. Wood. I'm going to ask that you also provide a small biography of yourself because we don't have one here.

Please, introduce yourself and proceed with your presentation.

[Sonja Wood, Chair, Friends of the Avon River Minas Basin, As an Individual]

Thank you for having us today. It was an impromptu decision to come here. We only found out about this meeting. My name is Sonja Wood, and this is my husband Chris Mansky. We're here from Nova Scotia and we represent the group, the Friends of the Avon River. The Avon River is part of the Minas Basin and part of the Bay of Fundy.

The Avon River has been slated as an inner Bay of Fundy recovery river by the government team whose focus is maintaining the wild Atlantic salmon within the Bay of Fundy. Forty-two rivers were selected by the inner Bay of Fundy recovery team. The Avon River is one of them. The Avon River is a huge watershed that has tributaries that are also salmon-producing rivers: the St. Croix, the Cogmagun, the Kennetcook, and the Halfway River.

The problem with the Avon River is that it's the only river in Canada that has zero fish passage. This has been studied and confirmed in a study by Lisa Isaacman in 2002. We know this is a salmon-producing river and it's critical in the reproduction of the salmon. We have no fish passage on this watershed, which is huge in terms of the stress of the wild Atlantic salmon.

Since 2004, I've been the chair of the board of the Friends of the Avon River. We have been asking the federal fisheries office to instigate a comprehensive and thorough EIA study on this watershed. When the causeway was put in, in 1968, it was put in without any assessment on the river or how it would impact any of the species that thrived within this watershed.

We do have a serious concern about the numbers and the population and the decline of the wild Atlantic salmon, but we also have concern about the American eel. The Avon River is critical in the reproduction of the female species of the American eel, which in turn will ensure that the numbers won't decline. With this barrier, these species are not getting past into the critical habitats to continue their life cycles and are basically dying in this muddy channel.

The Avon River disaster, as I stated, began in 1968 when the causeway went in. They've seen rapid erosion along the watershed that has basically destroyed 16 freshwater-saltwater marshes. The muddy plug has migrated up the St. Croix, which is basically a dead river now. There are no salmon getting into that river.

We have the Kennetcook River, which is also being plugged by this dirty mud, silty bed, that has been eroding for almost 50 years along the watershed. This plug has migrated down into the Cogmagun, and into the Halfway River, and is really wreaking havoc along the entire Avon River watershed.

Our biggest concern is that we've never seen any type of an assessment done along this river. Our pleas have gone unheard. We've had multiple governments listen to us, but deny our concerns, turn a blind eye. We have huge industry projects happening within the Minas Basin right now. We have tidal projects going on. Alton Gas is preparing to dump salty brine into the Shubenacadie River. The Avon River has a huge highway twinning project going on, and to my knowledge, they plan to build a six-lane bridge, not for the throughway of any fish passage but simply for traffic.

We don't want this to happen without any type of an EIA at this point. This is why we launched the petition, which was submitted on September 21 to the federal government, requesting that we have this comprehensive study finally done on this watershed in order to come up with a way that we can mitigate this issue.

We worked hand in hand with the inner Bay of Fundy recovery team. We sat in on multiple meetings with the Petitcodiac Riverkeeper. We feel that portions of the model that was set in 2007, on the Petitcodiac River, could be used to speed the project along on the Avon River. There would have to be a little more investigation done on the Avon River because we've never had fish passage, so they would have to have a little more involvement.

Nonetheless, we could move this along by taking the model that was set on the Petitcodiac River. Our recommendation is that we look at this seriously right now before any highway project is implemented, or before any other projects within the Minas Basin are put in place. We hope the government's theory of no net loss might be considered here. If we are going to wreak havoc, then perhaps we could do something to fix this issue.

The Avon River used to be noted as the “Big Salmon River”. The population of salmon that used to migrate up this river was so numerous that when you came to the salt water-freshwater hole, the river was jam-packed with so many salmon you could walk across the river on the backs of the salmon. This is what they used to say. Our count this year saw 20 wild Atlantic salmon within this watershed, and our concern is that they're not getting past the barrage barrier. This is, to us, an illegal barrier, and we believe that it's time to do something. We have these species at risk. We know that it's a priority river for the inner Bay of Fundy recovery team, and it's listed on their rivers of recovery. We're asking that this comprehensive environmental assessment be put in place immediately.

Thank you for your time, and we appreciate being here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Ms. Wood.

Now we'll go to the next part of our meeting, which is the questions and answers from members of Parliament. We give each member of Parliament a block of time to ask you questions, or they can make comments if they wish. I only ask that because it's a fairly large room, when you're answering a question, share your microphone. Make sure you get close enough to the microphone because we have to record all of this. We have to write a report based on your testimony, so we want to get all of it. One more thing is that I'm flexible on time for the seven minutes when you're responding, but I may need you to wrap up fairly quickly because we're a little tight on time.

That being said, Mr. Finnigan, you're up first for seven minutes, please.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Welcome to the committee. I'm excited to have you here in Miramichi. I also want to acknowledge that the Atlantic salmon is not only on the Miramichi, although we claim it's the most famous salmon in the world. We also have many other rivers, including in Nova Scotia. We have a few on the island, and of course in Newfoundland where we just came back from.

Ms. Lambert, I will begin with you.

You are talking about cooperation or a study with first nations about the traditional customs or practices that have existed for hundreds of years. Does Fisheries and Oceans Canada consult you, and take first nations' ancient practices and recommendations into account? Do you have good collaboration with the department?

[Catherine Lambert Koizumi]

Actually, the study I discussed documents Mi'kmaq and Maliseet ecological knowledge about 14 marine species at risk in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Baie des Chaleurs. The funding comes from DFO's Aboriginal Fund for Species at Risk and from AAROM, the Aboriginal Aquatic Resource and Oceans Management Program. We conducted the study, and documented the traditional uses, and the fishing methods—previously harpooning, and then, for the more modern community fishing, nets—from a food, ceremonial and social standpoint. We submitted the report to DFO, and we hope it will consider the information. It's important to make recommendations about the incorporation of traditional knowledge into current practices.

I agree with Mr. LeBlanc's statement that it's very important to work to include first nations in every management cycle for this species.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Thank you.

I know the Quebec government manages its salmon stocks differently. It's more independent, and does things its way. Fishing in the Restigouche River is a good example of this. On one side of the river, I believe you can keep a salmon you've fished, whereas, on the other side, the “catch and release” rule applies.

[Catherine Lambert Koizumi]

Yes, that's the case. Mr. LeBlanc might be able to say more about the subject.

Quebec manages things differently. Management is done for each river with a watershed, and river by river, in contrast to Canada's other provinces.

[David LeBlanc]

I think I can provide a clarification on this subject.

Changes have occurred in Quebec this year. Rather than allowing large salmon to be retained from the moment the fishing season begins, people must now wait till mid-season for a count of the river salmon to be done. The results of the count determine whether retention of the fish will be permitted for the second part of the season.

In 2016, the Matapedia River did not achieve its targets, so it was not possible to permit retention of large salmon.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Thank you.

The next question is maybe for Mr. Collins, but you can all comment if you feel that you could add to this.

Mr. Collins, as you said, we've come a long way over the last 20 years, and maybe it wasn't good economically. We lost a lot of industries that had an impact on the river, whether it was pollution or just the activities along the river. As I said, we've cleaned the river and we have a proper sewage system.

Do you feel that a lot of what's happening to the population is outside the river estuary itself? Is there a whole lot more that we can do that we know would have a big impact on the population? Do you feel that we're now looking at what's happening between the migratory...maybe not only about salmon but all fish species?

[Harry Collins]

I guess my point foremost is that we don't know, because they've dropped the ball nationally in science. There used to be a fairly significant effort of doing credible science from various agencies on the estuary. That is the gap that we would like to fill at this point.

We don't doubt for a minute that a lot of these impacts are coming from outside. We have all sorts of things going on with climate change. There are changes in biodiversity, introduced species, a variety of factors that we have a real sense are impacting these changes or this lack of improvement that one would expect. The answer, though, really needs to come through some ongoing credible science.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

This is maybe a question that could be controversial to a point. Do you think, for instance, with the forest practice that we have in New Brunswick and the latest management plan that we've just signed, that we did the proper management as far as our rivers are concerned? Would you comment on that?

[Harry Collins]

There is a great deal of concern with the increase of harvesting, the reduction of the wildlife areas, the deer yards, and the management practice. The entire forest sector seems very oversubscribed at this point in time.

A personal opinion—and it's shared by most of our committee around the table—is that the industry is forced into taking a great deal of fibre out of our forests, so yes, we think that's a major impact.

We have several studies from the Catamaran Brook project, which also has pretty much collapsed now. It's a small sub-watershed on the Miramichi. It illustrated that the current buffer zones of 30 metres seemed to be adequate for the larger waterways in terms of filtering out and that doesn't seem to have all that great an impact on water temperatures from what we understand from the various studies from that. But in other ways, just in terms of the volumes, the forest management seems to be entirely out of hand.

[Pat Finnigan, Liberal, Miramichi—Grand Lake, NB]

Debbie, it's the second year now that we've had catch-and-release, and you're into that business. What's the response from your customers on the river as far as enjoying the experience and not being able to put that fish on the barbecue? What are you hearing? Has that impacted your business?

[Deborah Norton]

As far as my business goes, no, not at all. Most people who come to the Miramichi are thrilled to have a place in the world where they might have an opportunity to catch a fish and put it back. Is it affecting my business, entertaining fishermen from around the world? Absolutely not.

On the other hand, as I pointed out, there is nothing wrong with the concept of harvest based on abundance. I and most Miramichiers grew up harvesting fish. We're very much looking forward to that point in time when we've built the stock up so that we once again can harvest. We're working hard at it. People would like to have a choice. What I see is that we can only play the cards that we've been dealt. Because of many reasons, the stocks are in decline right now, and everybody has to play the cards that they've been dealt to try to restore these stocks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Finnigan, and thank you, Ms. Norton.

Mr. Arnold, you have seven minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you all for your testimony this morning. I have a few questions and I will try to get through them as quickly as I can.

Debbie, I think it was you who mentioned that the ecosystem is out of balance, and I heard it from a few of you this morning. Are you speaking about predator-prey relationships or actual water quality issues? Or is it both? Can you elaborate a little further on the ecosystem being out of balance?

[Deborah Norton]

What I was referring to is the predator-prey relationships. Everything has to eat, so if you have 100,000 more of one species that has to eat something, it's going to eat everything, including itself. Things have to be in harmony. We can't have 100,000 or 300,000 of one thing, or half a million of one thing, and only have a few of the other. It's harvest based on abundance. Everything needs to be in balance, so it can sustain itself.

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

Okay, thanks. I'm quite familiar with the predator-prey imbalance. We have some issues with wildlife management in B.C. and you can't manage one species without managing all the other species that are related to it.

Someone mentioned the railway, 70 kilometres of railway. Was that a new railway that was put in, was it existing, or expanded? You mentioned that there was no impact study done on that. Can you tell me a little bit more about the history of it and what ships along that rail?

[David LeBlanc]

It's an existing railway, but to ensure the stability and sustainability of that connection, as an example, last year, Canadian National filled up a salmon pool on the Matapedia River to stabilize the railway because it's so close to the river. They did that quickly without proper government permits and in a way that was not sustainable for the salmon pool. They filled up the pool to ensure that eventually the transportation to Belledune would be secure.

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

Was there any enforcement or retribution for that? Was it just allowed to happen and basically ignored?

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

Sorry to interrupt. Could I just get a clarification? What do you mean by “they filled up a pool”?

[David LeBlanc]

They put about 3,000 tonnes of rock in the salmon pool.