Evidence of meeting #91 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 boat.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Mr. Woodford, thank you for that.
The bells have rung, folks, calling for votes. We can extend by five minutes, if you wish, for Mr. Donnelly. That requires unanimous consent, as required under Standing Order 115(5).
Does anybody object to the five minutes extra? I'm looking for objections.
Seeing none, Mr. Donnelly, you have five minutes.
10:10 a.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all our fishermen, our witnesses, for being here today.
I come from the west coast. We have ITQs. We don't have owner-operator fleet separation, so we don't enjoy what you do on the east coast.
One thing I can't understand, and it's been brought up, is why Newfoundland is different from Atlantic Canada. Can anyone explain why that happens to be for Newfoundland only?
I don't know if anyone wants to raise their hand.
10:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Mr. Donnelly, do you want to point someone out to answer the question?
10:10 a.m.
NDP
10:10 a.m.
Fish Harvester, As an Individual
I'll give it a try. I'm not sure...because I don't do much fishing in the rest of Atlantic Canada. I have very little activity there. It's my understanding, though, from a friend in Nova Scotia who fishes up there, that in Atlantic Canada, and Nova Scotia per se, there was the same policy as in Newfoundland up until a few years ago, when their industry, because of the size of the vessels, requested to go to a larger vessel for carrying lobster traps.
That's my understanding. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but prior to that last change in Atlantic Canada, they were onside with the same policy as in Newfoundland.
Let me be clear here. I've been fishing 30 years. A lot of people have fished longer than I have. We have to be aware of that, sitting around this table. But let me be clear that from my knowledge of the fishery, when there's a want and a need for the policy to change, and the majority supports it, we have had little trouble over the years getting DFO to come onside with this. I mean, there's plenty of evidence supporting that. The trouble here is that with this proposal that you're working on, it's not supported by the majority. There are only a select few. I can probably name them all on one hand—maybe two hands, at most. We're talking in the hundreds and hundreds of fish harvesters who are quite satisfied with the policy the way it is. So I sit here a little confused on the issue.
10:10 a.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
I have a second question, but do you want to jump in, Mr. Best?
10:10 a.m.
Fish Harvester, Glen and Jerry Fisheries Inc., As an Individual
I have to disagree with Mr. Woodford on what he's saying about how everybody is not in agreement with this. I come from Fogo Island. I went to a good many meetings. I went to shrimp, and I'm part of the shrimp fleet. I go to the groundfish cod meetings, and at every meeting I've gone to go we've had overwhelming support for the relaxation of rules, buddy-up combined, so—
10:10 a.m.
Fish Harvester, Glen and Jerry Fisheries Inc., As an Individual
It's not a different issue. You can count—
10:10 a.m.
Fish Harvester, Glen and Jerry Fisheries Inc., As an Individual
I've been to meetings on cod—I go up from Fogo—and everybody in that room wanted a change in buddy-up and also on vessel length.
10:10 a.m.
Fish Harvester, Glen and Jerry Fisheries Inc., As an Individual
You're talking about how the change is not wanted. Change is wanted. There is a movement of people who want change because the status quo doesn't work. We have an old industry. There are old people in this industry. I shouldn't say “old people”, but older.... The people who participate are older now and we have no young people coming.
If you think everything is working so fine, where is the end result? The end result is that we have no young people coming to this industry. If change doesn't come in one way or another, we are in big trouble.
10:10 a.m.
Fish Harvester and Inshore Council Member, Fish, Food and Allied Workers
I wanted to add to Mr. Woodford's comment.
I represent 206 pieces of the pie in Trinity Bay: that's the less-than-40-foot. This is not a new thing for me. This came to my attention by being chair of the crab committee two years ago, when I clearly stated overwhelmingly, over 90%, both times, and everybody discussed it.
Listen, everybody is saying that they need that 44 feet 11 inches. Well, when I started in 1979, there were two 50-footers in Heart's Content. The capacity they could carry was at 45,000 pounds maximum. We have the 39 feet and 11 inches boats in Trinity Bay now that can carry well over 100,000 pounds of stuff, and huge boats.... I don't see the need, and I'm only representing the majority. Like I said, I've never come to anything with a personal agenda. I represent those 206 people or—there are some combined—the 206 pieces of the pie, and they clearly stated that this needs to stay where it's at.
10:15 a.m.
Liberal
10:15 a.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
I don't have time for my second question. I was just going to see if Mr. Greenham wanted to jump in with any final words.
10:15 a.m.
Fish Harvester, As an Individual
Yes, I'd like to say something there, Mr. Chair.
Those new 39 feet 11 inches ones they're building now that are 28 feet wide, or whatever they are, they're like boxes. The fuel consumption in those boats is unreal. It's like 25 gallons per hour. They're really expensive to operate. We have an abundance of those 44 feet 11 inches boats around the island that were too small to fish shrimp. When they had the vessel changes before, those guys with the 44 feet 11 inches got their shrimp licences and moved up to 65-footers. But there's an abundance of those 44 feet 11 inches ones around Newfoundland now, tied up, that already meet CSI requirements, and you can get them for a fraction of the price.
You can pick up a fibreglass boat that's ready to go fishing and meets CSI Transport Canada standards for $100,000. That would be a lot safer vessel to go out in. I mean, we all have the same groundfish licences there, the inshore and the offshore—2J3KL. We have the same groundfish licence. I'm allowed to go out and get turbot. There is nothing wrong with it. Why not give me the boat to make it a bit safer? Allow me to get one that's 44 feet 11 inches so I can go out there and fish it. I've fished it for the last three years. Nothing is changing.
10:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Mr. Greenham, thank you very much for your comments.
Folks, I hate to do this, but this has to be shut down because of votes in the House. I sincerely apologize, but we did hear your testimony and it will be counted. I thank you for coming a long way. It was a very good discussion.
This will come to an end. The vote is in 15 or 20 minutes, and we have to shut it down. Thank you, everyone. We're adjourned.