Evidence of meeting #90 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 dfo.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Domestic Vessel Regulatory Oversight and Boating Safety, Department of Transport
It's not based on time. It's based on the impact of the modification.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Give me an example. If someone adds a five-foot extension to the back of the vessel, how soon would that have to be reassessed?
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Domestic Vessel Regulatory Oversight and Boating Safety, Department of Transport
If someone is doing a five-foot extension, depending on the weight and the location of the extension, it's likely to be a modification that will trigger an assessment.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Who monitors the weight that was added, and so on? Is that just recorded? When is that eventually looked at to trigger an assessment?
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Domestic Vessel Regulatory Oversight and Boating Safety, Department of Transport
The Canada Shipping Act puts the responsibility for all vessels on the owner. Then when Transport Canada does either the mandatory inspection or the risk-based monitoring, the inspector will verify the report, have the discussion with the fishermen, and verify if the vessel was supposed to have a reassessment or not, and then we take enforcement action if it was supposed—
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
How long might that take for it to be triggered by Transport Canada?
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Domestic Vessel Regulatory Oversight and Boating Safety, Department of Transport
As I said before when talking about the inspection, it depends on the size of the vessel.
Some vessels I've seen every year, some every four years. Others are risk-based, so there's no predetermined time.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
March 22nd, 2018 / 9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Weldon, you mentioned that you had 300 or so inspectors. Has that number of inspectors remained relatively constant?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Marine Safety and Security, Department of Transport
It was 367 as of last week, by chance. It just so happens that I had a discussion about inspector numbers yesterday.
It has gone up significantly. It has been higher than that, though; based on memory It was as high as 384 a couple of years ago, but it was as low as the low 300s, also within the last couple of years. We did a bit of a recruitment blitz, and I'm currently in the process of trying to recruit a further 17 inspectors. We are quite close to making those appointments.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Marine Safety and Security, Department of Transport
We're increasingly active in the Arctic Ocean. As part of the oceans protection plan, a government initiative announced a year and a half ago, which is a multi-department $1.5-million new initiative, we received extra funding to be able to increase our inspection ability in the north, so we have an additional five individuals. I will highlight that they typically commute from other jurisdictions because there simply isn't enough volume of work up there to keep them busy full time, although perhaps at some future date we'll be able to have a long-term base up there.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I'm trying to replay some of the testimony we've heard. I agree with my colleagues; this is pretty astounding stuff.
What I've heard is that it's possible to get a fishing licence and use a vessel that hasn't been licensed by Transport Canada.
Is that correct?
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Marine Safety and Security, Department of Transport
That is correct, if the vessel is small enough.
9:35 a.m.
Director General, Marine Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Short enough.
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Domestic Vessel Regulatory Oversight and Boating Safety, Department of Transport
It would be below 15 gross tonnage, which is an abstract measure, but we could say roughly 12 metres long.
9:35 a.m.
Executive Director, Domestic Vessel Regulatory Oversight and Boating Safety, Department of Transport
Below that size, they're not inspected.
When we say it's possible, it's not legal. All vessels have to be registered. The smaller ones do not have to be inspected by Transport Canada, but they have to meet the regulations.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I see. This sounds like an ongoing game of cat and mouse, whack-a-mole, whatever, where fishers are trying to accomplish something and stretching the boundaries.
Talk to me about the problems we're trying to solve here. What problems are the fishers trying to solve by doing what they're doing?
9:40 a.m.
Director General, Marine Safety and Security, Department of Transport
That would be speculation on my part, but I assume they're trying to maximize their income and minimize their expenses. That would be the logical construct, but that's speculation, because I haven't talked to a lot of them directly about that particular issue.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Well then maybe we'll get a chance to talk to some of them directly about that.
To the Transportation Safety Board, Mr. Laporte or Mr. Poisson, explain a little more about the dynamics of these stern extensions. What happens when these are attached to a vessel?
9:40 a.m.
Director, Marine Investigations, Transportation Safety Board of Canada
We're not looking at single-point failure, in the sense that it's not because you put an extension on your vessel and extra prawn cages on board that you are automatically unstable. However, in some circumstances what we're seeing is that potentially they don't know exactly the stability situation that they have, and they're going into a situation not knowing the risks they're taking.
They may be loading part of their catch, picking up cages, stacking them in the back and the extension, and there's the weight on the vessel from the catch, plus the weight from the extension, that has not been appropriately assessed. They're also going into weather situations because they're pressured to fish in certain circumstances.
It's not just the length extension, it's also the risk they're taking. If the period for catching is short, then they'll take that risk of sometimes increasing the weight on their vessels and going out in foul weather, because either the fishery day will close, or it's a limited catch and so forth.
It's not single-point failure that we're seeing because of an extension. We're seeing multiple issues, and length extension is one.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Thank you very much, Mr. Poisson.
I understand for the final question that you're splitting your time.
Mr. Godin, you have two and a half minutes. Go ahead.