Evidence of meeting #93 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 safety.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Regional Director General, Region - Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The independent appeal board reviewed those cases. In both those cases, the registration of the vessel was approved.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
These meetings can turn into what may seem unfair to you people as witnesses.
Ms. Perry, you got your back up pretty obviously in questioning from Ms. Jordan and Mr. Doherty. When something doesn't sound right or doesn't smell right, as parliamentarians, it's our job to question it. There are so many things here and, with all due respect, we don't seem to be getting any answers as a committee as to why some of these foolish-looking and foolish-sounding rules are in place. That makes this very frustrating for us, but don't take it personally.
Mr. Waddell, to your comment about how you're not an engineer or a safety engineer, I'm not either, but I can tell you that logic would tell me that a 50-foot boat would be a lot safer than a 20-foot boat. You may want to add that to your answer in the future.
One thing I want to ask about here is the exemption process. Mr. Donnelly hit on it. It sounds as though there is one. For every case out there where somebody has to fish using two licences with two different boats or, in the case of one guy, having to fish from four different boats, I would hope that DFO, all of you, are working on something that will address that, so that an exemption can be in place for each one of these types of things. I know there has to be a process and fishermen maybe don't like it. As a farmer, I don't like some of the process, but it has to be there.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
Yes.
Do I have a commitment from you to concentrate on putting a little more effort and common sense into those exemptions?
Acting Director General, Licensing and Planning, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
As Jackie alluded to, we do have an appeal process in place. We can allow for individuals who feel that their judgments have not been done in an appropriate manner to come forward and seek recompense or seek an alternative view from the department.
Conservative
Liberal
Ken McDonald Liberal Avalon, NL
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be brief. I'll start with a comment.
Ms. Perry and I spent a bit of time in the airport yesterday and spoke about this study and whatnot, so I've had a bit of an advantage. I had a little more discussion with Ms. Perry off the record than I did here today. I did mention to her at that time the fact that if nothing else comes out of this study, I hope that DFO regionally will consult with fishermen, whether it's on the wharf or by other means.
Also, when it comes to a vessel length change or consultation, DFO has the registration of everybody who owns a vessel. For every vessel that's registered, it has the owner's name and address. If the recommendation is to do consultation to find out what the fishers actually want on this particular issue, mail out a ballot to each individual boat owner. If they don't reply, they don't reply, but at least they have the opportunity. I would hope that's this is something we would look at after we get finished with this and our recommendations are put before the minister.
Somebody mentioned an appeal process. I know that two fishers presented here who said they were going through an appeal process with regard to the five-foot extension of their vessels and that the rules changed and they didn't know anything about it. There were no consultations with them.
Ms. Perry, what were the results of those appeals?
Conservative
Liberal
Ken McDonald Liberal Avalon, NL
All right.
Well, I'll end off by thanking everybody who appeared for your time, your patience, and your endurance in putting up with all of us parliamentarians grilling you from time to time. Thank you.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Todd Doherty
Thank you to all of our witnesses who appeared before us. As Mr. Miller and Mr. McDonald have said, our job is to ask the tough questions, and we do appreciate your time and the work you do.
With that, I will say thank you.
[Proceedings continue in camera]