Fisheries Committee on April 26th, 2018

Evidence of meeting #97 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 fisheries.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Kennedy Stewart

Bobby Morrissey

Also speaking

Chair Mrs. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets, Lib.)

Duncan Cameron Skipper, Save Our BC Fisheries

Tasha Sutcliffe Vice-President, Programs, Ecotrust Canada

Colin Fraser West Nova, Lib.

Churence Rogers Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, Lib.

Margot Venton Staff Lawyer and Director of Marine Program, Ecojustice Canada

Dan Gibson Senior Environment Specialist, Ontario Power Generation Inc.

West Nova, Lib.

Can you help me? I'm not normally a member of this committee and am just filling in today, but I'm obviously very interested. I understand the difference between owner-operators on the east coast versus the west coast, but can you talk a bit about active fishermen versus licence-holders and give me some idea of how many actual licence owners on the west coast are active fishermen? Are most people who are active fishermen the licence-holders? Or is that not the case?

Vice-President, Programs, Ecotrust Canada

Tasha Sutcliffe

It's very hard to get exact numbers, but increasingly the shift is towards those who are non-active, because the incentive is that you can now make more money by being the leaser. If you as a fisherman originally get the quota, there's a strong incentive over time that either you sell that, because you can make a lot of money on it, or your next generation may lease it. There's a lot of the new generation who are getting quota and leasing it, because they can earn revenue off that without fishing. Every generation, it moves further.... The per cent of licences used by active fisherman is decreasing.

West Nova, Lib.

When you mention the lease of a quota, is it also the licence? I mean, these are separate—

Vice-President, Programs, Ecotrust Canada

Tasha Sutcliffe

It's the licence as well. They're both openly transferable. Anyone, really, can buy and use a licence or a quota.

West Nova, Lib.

All right.

Duncan, you talked about enforcement officers. If I can summarize what you said, it was more to do with the lack of good feelings, I guess, between the fishermen and the enforcement officers, because the officers don't necessarily know the rules, or they don't understand the conditions of the licence or the policy. Is it a matter of training?

Mrs. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets, Lib.)

I'm sorry, Mr. Fraser. I'm going to have to wrap it up.

West Nova, Lib.

Perhaps you can submit that—

Mrs. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets, Lib.)

Do I have—

West Nova, Lib.

Can you submit that answer in writing to the committee, please?

Mrs. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets, Lib.)

Could you submit that answer to the committee in writing? Thank you very much.

We're going now to Mr. Arnold for five minutes, please.

Conservative

Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

I'll give my time to Mr. Doherty.

Mrs. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets, Lib.)

Do you want me to pass over the time, or do you just want to pass it over when you're done?

Conservative

Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

He can do one question and I'll take the rest of it.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

Thanks.

Duncan, you mentioned that you fish two primary fisheries, is it? Or one?

Skipper, Save Our BC Fisheries

I fish four fisheries a year. My primary fishery this year, since it's okay this year, is Dungeness crab, but I fish in salmon, halibut, both spot prawns and Dungeness crab, and herring.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

The reason I ask is that our colleague.... You're going to get caught in a bit of a family squabble here, so I apologize.

Skipper, Save Our BC Fisheries

It sounds like fishing.

Voices

Oh, oh!

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

This is just for clarity. My honourable colleague, Mr. McDonald, is being a little disingenuous with you, but I'm going to put it in Pacific terms for you.

The surf clam issue, Duncan, is like your Dungeness crab fishery. The minister comes in and arbitrarily takes 50% or a quarter of your ITQ or your quota, say, and awards it to an organization, and not even an organization, but a person from Alberta who doesn't have a boat, doesn't have a vessel, and doesn't have experience doing this, under the guise of reconciliation. Would you think that's fair?

Skipper, Save Our BC Fisheries

If I could, how about if I try to answer both questions at the same time, Ken's and yours?

I don't think it's fair that one person owns the entire fishery, and I also don't think it's fair that you reallocate it in the way that it was. The fact that they got to that point.... I don't know the details of the fishery. Maybe they developed the whole fishery themselves. I don't know those details to speak to that.

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

They did.

Skipper, Save Our BC Fisheries

I don't know, but....

Conservative

Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC

No, that's great. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Mrs. Bernadette Jordan (South Shore—St. Margarets, Lib.)

Mr. Arnold.

Conservative

Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC

Thank you, Madam Chair. I've got a bit of a bug, so I've got a very low voice today.

Thanks to both of you for being here.

Just last week, there was a Supreme Court of British Columbia decision in the Nuu-chah-nulth and Ahousaht court case on their rights to harvest commercially. Have you had a chance to look at that decision and how it might affect this act or your fisheries?