Fisheries Committee on June 2nd, 2021

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Absolutely.

This is something I'm extremely pleased about, because the Coast Guard does such critical work in our coastal communities. We rely on it heavily for the safety of our mariners, as well as for science, for research, for making sure areas are clear. We have actually put forward a plan to basically rebuild a number of the ships in the Coast Guard and to replace the older ones. We have some that will be, by the time they're replaced, 60 years old, which is older than I am. We're going to be making sure that our smaller boats are new and are put into areas that need them. New icebreakers are extremely important to the north.

We're making sure that the Coast Guard has the tools it needs to do the very important job that its doing.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Morrissey.

Minister, I'll remind you there's nothing wrong with being over 60.

We'll now go to the committee room and to Mr. Zimmer for five minutes or less, please.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the minister for attending today.

My questions will be around what my colleague Mr. Calkins has already referred to, that's the selective fishery in B.C.

I have to read you recommendation 30 of the Cohen commission. It says the following: “The Department of Fisheries and Oceans should designate an individual to coordinate scientific, educational, and management efforts in relation to selective fishing practices”.

Minister, has this been done?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I'm going to have to turn to my department, because I will admit that I am not aware of that.

[Timothy Sargent]

In turn, I'll turn to our regional director general for the Pacific, Rebecca Reid.

[Rebecca Reid, Regional Director General, Pacific Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

We do have a selective fishing policy that we apply for salmon.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I'm asking actually about the person who's been applied, the designated individual. I just want to now if that's been done and who it is.

[Rebecca Reid]

The policy is implemented by all fishery managers—

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I'm actually asking about the one. It says "designate an individual to coordinate scientific, educational, and management efforts", so who is that person?

[Rebecca Reid]

We have a regional director of science and a regional director for fisheries management who work together on those two aspects.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Maybe I can get those names specifically so that we know who to go to after this.

I'll go back to the minister.

With regard to a selective fishery in B.C., the B.C. government has been very supportive of this idea, as you know. I have a document that was written to the B.C. salmon management team at DFO. This is from the letter:

We look forward to further discussion regarding salmon enhancement. We encourage increased chinook mass-marking to enable better management and identification of hatchery chinook production. This can lead to efficiencies in chinook production, and better management of harvest, which can lead to increased prey availability for SRKW and certainly for harvesters.

It goes on:

B.C. encourages DFO to be flexible in its management approaches to not only conserve and protect stocks of concern but also facilitate limited and 'safe' harvest opportunities on abundant stocks where locally supportable. We are hopeful that all options, including mark-selective fisheries, are being considered by DFO to ensure conservation and socioeconomic objectives can be achieved.

Minister, we have 25 MPs who are asking for a selective fishery in B.C. We have a B.C. government that is asking for a selective fishery. We have a public fishery that's asking for a selective fishery.

When?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Zimmer.

As I have said to Mr. Calkins, I'm not averse to a mark-selective fishery. I do believe that—

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I heard your answer, Minister, but I guess I'm asking for the next part of that answer, which is “When?”.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Would you let me finish, please?

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

I'm asking for when, Minister. When?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

We currently have a pilot program in place. We will continue to work to find the best way forward, recognizing that the wild Pacific salmon are in dire straits in some areas—

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

We know.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

—and we need to make sure that anything we do does not impact the conservation of those fish.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Minister, that's the great part about a selective fishery. You can selectively catch certain fish and selectively not catch certain fish, using fishing methods.

I've done many videos—I'm sure you've seen some of them—that explain what a selective fishery is and how it works. We're just asking for it to be implemented.

You said that you're doing a test fishery this summer. You're doing tests, and then what? Is it a test fishery, and then there's another five years of a pause, or are we actually going to move into a selective fishery that can be used B.C.-wide?

What's your end goal? If 2021 is the test selective fishery, what's the next step?

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

My end goal is to make sure that we have wild Pacific salmon. That is my end goal.

We have a stock that is in serious decline. We need to do everything possible, and we are making sure that we do that. A mark-selective fishery is a possibility, no question, but we need to make sure that before anything moves ahead, we do what we have to do to conserve the stock that we have.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

That's the great part about a selective fishery: It allows us to do both.

You use the word “collaboration” a lot, and that, by definition, is “the action of working with someone to produce something”.

You use that word a lot. You use word salads a lot, Minister.

The public fishery has been more than willing to do a demonstration and to show you that it works, but they don't feel collaborated with. They feel that you've taken their data and simply ignored it. You've ignored conversations at tables that they've been at for months.

When are you going to actually establish the selective fishery that's been asked for? I know you're going to repeat your answer, but my hope is that you'll give us a date, an expected date: “This is my best, Mr. Zimmer. The test date is 2021. Maybe in 2022 we can see a 50% selective fishery, and maybe in three or four years, we can see a 100% selective fishery.”

Minister, we need answers now.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

I met with the sport fishing advisory board, and—

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

And you ignored their advice.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Can I finish answering the question?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I'm sorry, Mr. Zimmer, but your time is up.

We'll now go to Mr. Batiste for five minutes or less, please.