Evidence of meeting #31 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was management.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Yes, confidentiality.
You referenced having three farms and you're looking to expand. You've been farming for 30 years. Is expanding fish farming one of the key ways you're going to grow your community economically?
5:35 p.m.
Tlowitsis First Nation
We have little else in our territory. It was either forestry or fishery, and we all know what's happening with the fishery. It's no longer a viable industry, and it's not going to come back just because you get rid of fish farms. We know that. Anybody with a little bit of thought would know that, even though one lady said that the orcas came back because they heard they were taking the farms out of the archipelago.
We get nonsense like that going on, but it's really necessary to have these farms right now. I wouldn't change my mind on them. We haven't seen the damage that people say they cause. We have guardians who are testing different seafood around our farms—prawns, shrimp and crabs. We do some of that testing. We set our boat up to do that and we haven't noticed any damage like that.
5:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Chief, did I hear you correctly in answering? You said you had a report from DFO scientists that showed little or no effect from farmed fish. Did I hear you correctly?
5:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Do you have that report? Could you provide it to the committee if you have it?
5:35 p.m.
Tlowitsis First Nation
I'll get it from the Canadian government, from Fisheries.
5:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
What report should we request? Could you provide the specific title? I would like to see that.
5:35 p.m.
Tlowitsis First Nation
If I had the title I would, but we get these reports from our meetings, the provincial meetings that we have in British Columbia. You can read them in the paper from time to time.
5:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Okay. Thank you, Chief.
I want to go back to you, Mr. Farrell, because you were referencing a success story on the Okanagan system. Could you elaborate a bit more on what is happening there that makes that a success story as it relates to salmon on the west coast?
5:35 p.m.
Professor, Tier I Canada Research Chair in Fish Physiology, Conservation & Culture, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
I guess the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Large numbers of Okanagan salmon are coming back to those lake systems.
They started with a local bottom-up approach. The late David Schindler was involved in looking at the productivity of those lakes. They started at ground zero, if you will. They asked, “What is there for these salmon to eat?” Then they put in a hatchery, and that hatchery has provided the enhancement.
I hear a thumbs-up from somebody there.
5:35 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
What you're saying is that there are models that show how you can rebuild a stock.
5:35 p.m.
Professor, Tier I Canada Research Chair in Fish Physiology, Conservation & Culture, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
Yes—
5:35 p.m.
Professor, Tier I Canada Research Chair in Fish Physiology, Conservation & Culture, University of British Columbia, As an Individual
—and there are good examples of how you can destroy stocks.
David Suzuki wrote a book about the 10 worst collapses of salmon over.... It's an old book now. I suggest that you pick it up, and you'll see many British Columbian examples and others from elsewhere. What you see as the common denominator is fishing, fishing, fishing. Fishing traditionally kills fish. There's no risk; it's a definitive.
When you talk about impacts, you have to really ask the question, and what's happening in Quebec with the management system is what I call non-retention fishing. I work with commercial fishers here, and maybe Chief John Smith even knows about the recovery box, which is mandated on some boats.
If you catch a coho salmon and you're supposed to be catching a sockeye salmon, what do you do? Well, you throw it overboard. Is it going to live? Probably not, especially if it's been in a gillnet. Well, we were able to recover them. We had a specially devised recovery box that was built by a commercial fisherman, a gillnetter, who then sold his licence because the stocks were going down.
Anyway, there are all sorts of local solutions out there.
5:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Morrissey.
We'll now go to Mr. Trudel for two and a half minutes or less, please.
5:35 p.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Bergeron, I enjoyed hearing you earlier when you mentioned the pride you felt in Quebec's fishery management models. I agree with you, and feel this pride myself, even though I don't know much about salmon fishing. People in Quebec take pride in protecting the species. Even sport fishers understand that it's in their own interests to help ensure that the species survives and that we can enjoy it for many years to come. It's very important.
You spoke earlier about the consequences of adding Quebec Atlantic salmon to the endangered species list. What do you feel we could do to keep the species from declining further and suffering the fate of Pacific salmon?
What can we do to prevent such a decline?
5:40 p.m.
Director General, Fédération québécoise pour le saumon atlantique
Of course.
First of all, Atlantic salmon should not be added to the endangered species list, at least for populations in Quebec. We need to continue with the monitoring that is currently being done.
There could also be enhancement measures for the rivers. There are issues, as is the case for forests, that are linked to land use planning. When we talk about integrated management, we mean integrated watershed management. It's important to make sure that everything that happens on a salmon river watershed can limit the risks for Atlantic salmon, and also ensure that there is no harm to the environment in which salmon swim and reproduce. All kinds of things are needed here, some of which are linked to major environmental issues and water quality. I spoke about climate change, where considerable work is needed; not only research work, but also work to develop decision-making tools for those who do the detailed management of Atlantic salmon.
5:40 p.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Thank you.
I'm guessing that I have about 10 seconds left. I had a rather more complex question for Ms. Bergeron.
5:40 p.m.
Bloc
Denis Trudel Bloc Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC
Okay. I'll wait for the next round.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you.
We'll now go to Mr. Johns for two and a half minutes, please.
5:40 p.m.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Chief Smith, could you speak to how important the principles of free, prior and informed consent are as the government works on its strategy to save wild Pacific salmon?
5:40 p.m.
Tlowitsis First Nation
I'm not sure that they really plan on saving it. We've been watching commercial fishing, for instance. The boats get bigger and faster and faster. They're called the killer fleet. Somebody forgot to tell the fish that these guys are going to fish seven days a week and 24 hours a day to pay for the costs of their boats.