Fisheries Committee on June 15th, 2017

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

Sorry, Commissioner, can I jump in?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

Yes.

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

I have seven minutes and I have a few questions. Thank you for that answer.

Secretary, could I ask you which MCTS stations are still understaffed?

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

That's a loaded question. We've invested in new equipment.

In terms of the specific staffing decisions, I would again turn to the commissioner for a more specific response.

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

The announcements contained within the oceans protection plan and the comprehensive review are actually going to move us to a deeper or stronger posture at our MCTS. While the current MCTS stations are staffed and in fact, our training curriculum for MCTS is currently fully subscribed, we have people coming through the process. With those new trainees, we're actually going to be going to a better crewing posture. Getting into the deep numbers would just be confusing.

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

May I jump in and ask, then, specifically, how do overtime amounts accumulated at Victoria and Prince Rupert MCTS centres compare with those accumulated in centres in other regions?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

I don't have those exact numbers in front of me. I do understand that all of the centres are running more overtime than we want to maintain over the long term, which is why we're changing the posture to actually bring those numbers down across the board.

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

Is there a commitment to address that?

[Jeffery Hutchinson]

Yes, there is.

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

Okay, thank you.

Turning to the Fisheries Act, Secretary, we were expecting the changes to the new Fisheries Act to be implemented this month. We were hoping to see the minister introduce the new act. Can you tell us why that isn't coming this month?

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

Certainly. I appreciate this question, as I do the committee's work on the Fisheries Act as well. The Fisheries Act is being reviewed as part of the environmental assessment regime, alongside the National Energy Board, and the navigable waters act. We want to make sure that we're taking the time to get this right. It is likely that we will be seeing the legislation coming forward in the fall.

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

Thank you.

I have a final question then. Secretary, could you tell us what money, if any, is being allocated to address the impacts of disease related to Pacific region fin-fish aquaculture, and specifically the Cohen recommendations related to aquaculture?

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

From a high level, I think the first thing I would mention is the $197 million that has been invested in science for over the next five years. Much of those resources or some of those resources will definitely be allocated to that. In terms of drilling down, perhaps we'll give the person who hasn't been able to speak so far, Philippe, a chance to dig more into the details.

[Philippe Morel, Acting Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

A lot of programs are contributing to the response to the Cohen report. I don't have the exact number, but science and all of the management plan for salmon are contributing in our regular programming to respond to the recommendations of the report.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Donnelly.

Mr. Morrissey, you have seven minutes, please.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We are a collegial committee, so I'll just say on the record that there's no history of the minister appearing for supplementaries. Some have in the past and some haven't, but officials have appeared as well.

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

For the record, I'm very happy to be here.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Yes, and the opposition has acknowledged that the substance of your answers is of a higher quality than the minister's were in the House, so I'm not sure why they were complaining that the minister wasn't here.

Mr. Secretary, one of the issues that constantly came up during hearings on MPAs was the concern about the ability.... While designating protected areas was one thing, the ability to provide ongoing protection, from enforcement and scientific perspectives, was in question. You referenced the additional funding for the protection of MPAs, which is critical if Canada is committed—which we are—to proceed with hitting the numbers.

Could you expand on how the department is going to allocate resources and what those resources will look like?

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

Certainly. Thank you very much for the question.

The movement that we're making on our MPAs, or marine protected areas, is quite ambitious. In order to do that and to stay on target, we need to ensure that we deploy our resources. These investments are going to allow us to make sure that we have the resources to get this right.

It's one thing to throw numbers around, but in the last two years, we have been in a generational hiring of new scientists within the department. The minister and I had an opportunity to actually meet with some of the scientists who were freshly hired. They are going to give us the capacity to do the kind of consultations and upkeep to the science to make sure that we are being as impactful as we can with our conservation areas. At the same time, it's not just about the people. It's also about the equipment. We've put—and are putting—more marine science into the water in these two years than we have in the last decade. This will give us the tools that our staff and scientists need so that we can make the right decisions going forward.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

That's on the science side.

How does the department plan for or envision the protection, the simple protection, because you address—

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

You're speaking of enforcement officers?

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

That was some of the testimony we heard. We have these areas, but nobody is ensuring that there's no fishing activity going on, and we have this expanding network of MPAs. We heard that in our northern trip, as well, from some of the indigenous communities. The protection is not visible.

[Terry Beech, Liberal, Burnaby North—Seymour, BC]

I've heard similar concerns in the consultations that I've had with various groups on the subject, but perhaps I can pass it over to Philippe for a more detailed answer.

[Philippe Morel]

Thank you.

Every time we create an MPA, we then implement a management plan for the MPA. It comprises the surveillance monitoring of the results, the conservation objectives that we're trying to reach and whether they're beneficial. That's more the science perspective. But there are also other programs that can be put in place by stakeholders and by us, so it can go from fisheries officers.... Every time we have a new MPA, fisheries officers are aware of that. In their surveillance, either by air or boat, they do go around the MPA and make sure there are no fisheries there.

We also have some guardian programs with indigenous groups that can contribute to that. As well, when the MPA is very small—for example, a small sponge reef that is protected by an MPA—we have examples where communities look to see if there are fisheries activities in the MPA, and if so, they report it. When they report it to us, we do act with our fisheries officers to make sure that the boundary of the MPA is well known by the people who are in there.