You haven't?
Evidence of meeting #32 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 reid.
A video is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #32 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 reid.
A video is available from Parliament.
5:10 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I'm hearing concerns about how the tubbing issue was raised, but in general, our advisory processes with industry are rigorous. We have a regular process that we follow and we have an integrated fisheries management plan that we develop every year. We consult on the content of that plan and on the fishing plan, and it takes place every year regularly.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
What do you have to say to all the harvesters, businesses, first nation communities and people who feel blindsided by this decision from DFO? What are you telling them and what would you say to them?
5:10 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
What I'll say is that we haven't banned tubbing. We have agreed on a protocol to inspect products to make sure that size limits are respected. We believe in having a sustainable fishery, and size limits are an important part of how we ensure conservation and manage for sustainability.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
You mentioned the importance of sustainability in the prawn harvest. Does tubbing limit the sustainability of the prawn industry? If so, is there any scientific basis for this conclusion?
5:10 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The concern over tubbing is about whether the product can be readily available for inspection. That's the concern. There's no concern about freezing prawns in sea-water, other than you can't see them to see if they're meeting the size limits. If you can find a methodology to assess size limits, then the issue is resolved. That's what the protocol does. It sets out a protocol to allow for a ready inspection to ensure that size limits are being respected.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
However, my question was whether tubbing limits the sustainability of the prawn industry, and if so, is there scientific evidence to prove that?
5:10 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Again, it's not the tubbing. It's the size limits that we're trying to ensure. The issue with tubbing is that you can't readily inspect the product. If you can resolve that issue, then the package you put the fish or the prawns in is not a concern. It's about whether they're readily available for inspection.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Dan Mazier Conservative Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB
The Prawn Industry Caucus told this committee about the economic impact that frozen-at-sea prawns have on the people who harvest them and that local businesses rely on them. If DFO follows through with prohibitive tubbing, what is the transition plan for the 600 families that depend on spot prawn harvests in B.C?
5:10 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
DFO intends to work with the industry to find ways to readily inspect product. Tubbing isn't banned. We just need to find a way to readily inspect the product.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Richard Bragdon
Thank you, Mr. Mazier.
I believe we have time for one final questioner before we wrap up this segment of testimony.
Mr. Morrissey, you have five minutes or less.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for the three DFO officials who are appearing before the committee.
You can sense the almost unanimous frustration of the members of this committee. You have repeatedly stated that you're not imposing any change, but you certainly caused a lot of anxiety among fishers with the move you initiated this past winter.
You've interchanged things, Ms. Reid. Several times you've come back to conservation and size. We had fishers before this committee who stated that they've been using this method for 50 years and that it's not a question of stocks.
You are repeatedly going back to “readily available for inspection”, but you didn't answer this: How much time does it take to thaw a tub of prawns?
5:10 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I did try to suggest that we explain the protocol, because the protocol will answer that question specifically.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
No. My question to you, Ms. Reid, is this: How much time does it take to thaw a tub of prawns?
5:10 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The answer to that is that it depends on a number of factors that need to be taken into account—
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Okay. Give me a range, then, Ms. Reid. Give me a range. Give me a time. Is it five minutes? Is it 10 minutes? How long does it take?
5:15 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I haven't thawed a tub of prawns myself—
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
No, but you're the senior person at DFO, and basically the whole issue we've been hearing about before this committee is that a tub of frozen prawns has to be readily available for inspection by your officials.
5:15 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Right, so you would need to know the size of the tub. Is it one pound? Is it 10 pounds? What temperature is it frozen at? What's the exterior temperature? What kind of thawing process are you going to use? Are you going to use water? Are you going to use boiling water? To say how long it will—
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Let's go to the simplest one. Anyhow, you seem to be waffling all around the edges—
5:15 p.m.
Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I'm not waffling. I'm just trying to point out that there are a number of different factors.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Ms. Reid, from my listening to the evidence that we've been getting, the answer is not satisfactory. It seems to be waffling all around the edges.
We have an industry that is quite mature. We have an industry that appears relatively regulated. We have heard no evidence given by your officials that violations are a serious issue that's affecting conservation and the stock.
That appears to be an interpretation, which I fully understand, but let me correct something. Is there not a methodology that you could use that identifies a frozen tub of prawns to the vessel that caught it? We use it on the east coast extensively. It's called traceability. Then, if you can identify the tub of prawns to a vessel, it would make no difference how long it takes to thaw those prawns. From an enforcement perspective, once you document that you took them out of a particular vessel, you should be able to relate the prawns in that tub that you seized back to the vessel, so the time to thaw should not be an issue.
Would I be correct?