Evidence of meeting #111 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was bycatch.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Our illustrious chair never ceases to amaze.
It is a pleasure to have you here today, Ms. Lapointe. Thank you for taking the time to come and to share with us your insights and expertise.
I have a few questions with regard to the quota that's been allocated so far, or what's been set aside.
How many new fishing jobs in Canada will be created in the offshore fleet sector because of the access to the unit 1 redfish fishery? Do you know?
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
As I've indicated, we've always had access and harvested unit 1 redfish, so we already have all of our employees and all of our plants in place to continue and to take advantage of the opening of the commercial fishery. We're not anticipating new employees or new processing plants or new vessels. We've already made those investments.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
This would be just to employ existing employees. There would be no expansion as a result of this.
You talk about the stocks, about the health of the redfish stocks and some of the challenges they're facing. In your estimation, are there any other imbalances in the ecosystem that may be affecting the health of the redfish stocks?
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
I'm not a scientific expert, but it certainly seems that in the gulf the waters are warming and the ecosystem is changing. Just in terms of what I hear on the ground, the fish in unit 1 is not the same kind of fish or does not look the same as what existed many years ago. As we know, it's much smaller. There's a lot going on in the environment, for sure.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
We hear from different stakeholders that obviously what is affecting a lot of fish stocks in that area and throughout the Atlantic coast is the explosive growth in the population of pinnipeds. Do you feel that could be a factor on an ongoing basis for the healthy stock levels of redfish in the Atlantic waters?
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
There are definitely certain fisheries where seal predation is an important contributor to the fact that they're not recovering, such as cod in the area of 4T. In terms of redfish, I haven't seen anything from the science advice that would lead me to believe that seals are eating redfish, but I'm not an expert in that area.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
I wonder if there is a study going on in regard to that at this point and if they are looking for that.
I have a question further to this. In regard to getting to where we are now, with the proposed levels that have been announced, do you sense that there was adequate consultation with the offshore sector and, as well, with those who are being affected through various means in the inshore sector of fisheries, through various causes? Do you feel that there was adequate consultation done in advance of the decision by the minister?
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
I would say a bigger concern for us is the length of time that it has taken not only this minister but her predecessors to make a decision on allocations in this fishery, which has been quite destabilizing for our members, who, as I've said, have continued to invest in this fishery. The length of time that it took to actually get a decision was quite problematic from our perspective.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
The delays have had some definite effects on the industry and across the sector. What you're telling us, basically, is that it has been a delayed process.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Okay.
I believe my colleague Mr. Arnold has one question he'd like to ask, if we have time, Mr. Chair.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you, Ms. Lapointe.
It sounds like the market is a major stumbling block in this process. What efforts have been made by DFO to promote the marketing of redfish? What steps has the government taken to look for and promote new markets? Obviously, it's a fishery that has a resource that could be accessed, but we seem to have no markets.
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
In terms of the work that's been done on markets for redfish, that's been done largely by the Atlantic Groundfish Council. We've had some funding from the federal government to do that, which started in 2020.
We were going down one sort of path in 2020. We were expecting the fish to be larger, and we were looking at trying to develop a market in Europe, trying to position ourselves differently than European redfish were, where there's really a lack of consumer confidence in Europe because of the way they've been mismanaged. That work had to shift when we saw that the fish weren't getting any bigger.
That led us to try to develop a brand for Canadian redfish and other groundfish species in working with a communications and promotion marketing agency. We've been focusing largely on China and Korea. In China, they already have a market for whole small fish, so we're trying to position our fish there. In Korea as well, there is a market. As a loss leader, they sell whole small fish in restaurants. We're trying to develop a brand that has a value, so that it's beneficial from an economic perspective for Canadian fishermen to be able to extract the maximum value out of this fishery.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Arnold.
We'll now go to Mr. Morrissey for five minutes or less, please.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Thank you, Chair.
Ms. Lapointe, could you define unit 1 for the benefit of the committee? Describe it geographically. What are you referencing?
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
It's in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
It's just within the gulf. It's not coastal offshore Nova Scotia or Newfoundland.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
It's solely in the gulf. Okay.
The fleet operates the size of vessel you described in the gulf.
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
We have in the past, but in recent years we've been using smaller vessels in unit 1.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Okay. That was where it was when it was closed down.
I want to go back to Mr. Perkins' point on the historical fleet share. There's always an argument over historical quotas because the history tends to be controlled by the period you establish for the historical data.
What was the historical fleet share? Could you give us the time frame in which the current historical data was accumulated, the data you're using now to justify your position?
President, Atlantic Groundfish Council
I can confirm, but I believe it's going back to the seventies. Even through the index and experimental fisheries, the department continued to use the existing proportional shares.