Fisheries Committee on March 10th, 2020

[Rebecca Reid]

No, we don't.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

What has the minister indicated in terms of support for this, if you don't have that?

[Rebecca Reid]

Is this a money question you're asking about? Perhaps I'll turn to Jen.

[Jen O'Donoughue]

We continue to estimate the amount of money that it will take to respond to this issue. We have support from our minister to do that. We have funding to continue the work until May, and we're currently reassessing what work needs to happen post-May.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

This is coming over and above the budget, okay.

We've been hearing from community members from my riding up and down the coast that there is a requirement for significant and ongoing new resources to address the salmon conservation problem, and the corresponding effect on the ecosystem, economy and workers of Canada. Simply put, a temporary infusion of new money will not adequately address the problem.

What can we do, as a committee, to ensure that DFO gets a permanent addition of significant resources, so that your department and your respective partners can address the root causes of these conservation problems?

[Rebecca Reid]

It's important to address this particular crisis. We are doing everything we can to put measures in place to resolve this particular issue.

As you point out, there are broader issues out there. To name a few, the conditions in the ocean are such that we have very highly unpredictable productivity for the fish, so sometimes they do well and sometimes they don't. The areas we can control are the freshwater habitats. That is an area of focus we should look at, so when the ocean conditions allow for those fish to be productive and to come back in numbers, the freshwater environment will be available for them to survive.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

We're hearing that for restoration, the money is not flowing. We're not seeing it in our communities for what's needed. You're working with a small amount of money. The government has made announcements, but maybe you can speak to the need. We've had the first round of the BCSRIF money and then the second round, and still many organizations aren't seeing the funding. We have hundreds of volunteers and they're not getting the resources to get the work done.

[Rebecca Reid]

There have been a number of investments in the past few years, which have been very helpful. The coastal restoration fund is a source of restoration money. BCSRIF, as you point out, is another excellent source. We receive funding not for restoration but for assessment under the Pacific Salmon Treaty as well, so that's $15 million a year. There has been an infusion of money. We need to make sure we use the money wisely and we put it where it's most needed. BCSRIF is helping us with that. Some of the projects we've funded help to direct money to areas most in need. I think being strategic and being smart about how we use the money is important. It's also important to work with the Province of B.C., which cares about this a lot, and with local nations and stakeholders.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

In December, the First Nations Leadership Council, supported by the AFN, wanted this to be declared a state of emergency. They're calling for an emergency package like the one the NDP has been calling for. We're hoping the government is going to look at that.

Do you have any plans or initiatives in terms of a relief package for the workers who have been affected by the low salmon returns? I know they've been calling for extended EI, but there's nothing. They're waiting. The August 20 date was late, as you know, and pretty much decimated the commercial fishing season. Are there any plans to help provide relief to those fishers who are affected?

[Rebecca Reid]

Aside from the regular types of relief that are available to fishermen, we don't have anything in addition to that.

I wonder, Andrew, if you want to speak to that at all.

[Andrew Thomson]

We do have a few programs in place, Mr. Johns, for a buyback of licences to provide some support for, particularly, trollers, should they choose to exit the fishery, to have some support for that. In terms of—

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

I'm pretty sure that's exhausted right now at this point. You're not seeing much uptake of that, in essence.

[Andrew Thomson]

Not to be confrontational, but we've actually seen quite a bit of uptake in terms of the number of applications to us.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

That's since August, I imagine.

[Andrew Thomson]

Yes.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

The Pacific Salmon Treaty money is still sitting there. What's the plan for that money to help relief? You know the area G trollers have been waiting for that.

[Andrew Thomson]

We're still using it in the last two rounds of the buyback program. Applications have been coming in these last few months for it. Then we have started having discussions with area G and others as to how to expend any remaining funds at the end of this fiscal year.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Okay.

Mr. Chair, I think I'm running out of her time. Do I have my six minutes coming up?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

You can just keep going, sir. I'll tell you when you're out of time.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

Climate change is going to have serious and significant impacts not just on salmon returns but across all aspects of DFO's mandate. What has DFO learned from this, and will this inform future emergencies such as this and others likely to come with the impacts of climate change?

[Rebecca Reid]

There's a lot to learn about the changing ocean conditions and weather conditions that we're facing. From a DFO perspective, what we need to do is to make sure we have the science in place to forecast as best we can and to look for those anomalies, and be responsive to those anomalies as they occur. Through planning, through other methods, being proactive and looking forward is important as we learn to deal with a period of high uncertainty.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

I'm going to go to the site. Is it possible to have the camera set up so that regular people can watch and see the progress that's been done?

[Rebecca Reid]

We do have an issue around setting up cameras. Whether we have the infrastructure in place would be a question, but what we do have is very regular information bulletins that come out with pictures and with videos. On one of the slides—I just flashed by it really fast—I wanted to show you the sites, the websites, where you can access regular up-to-date information. Over the summer, this site was updated almost daily. Right now it's weekly, but we're planning to do it more frequently.

[Brad Vis, Conservative, Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, BC]

Since the cameras are there, is there any way to just make it live so people can—

[Rebecca Reid]

Mostly it's drones and people with cameras. I don't believe we have a camera that's just fixed in place.