Fisheries Committee on Oct. 23rd, 2024

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Are you aware that there are only two buyers in the current licence-holders? How are these individuals with only...? The department has told people. It's not in the letter. The amount of 15 kilograms is what you'll give to the employees. How are they supposed to run that business, sell it and keep it alive when there are only two buyers with that facility? Do you actually think they can make a living? They're not going to get the kind of money they're getting now, because they'll be in between now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Perkins. I hope Mr. Burns can provide an answer in writing. You have gone a little bit over time.

I want to slot in Mr. Kelloway for his questions now.

Mr. Kelloway, you have five minutes or less, please.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

I have five minutes or less. Does anybody ever do less?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Very seldom.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay. Well, I'm not going to today.

I want to talk a little bit about conservation and protection. The work that these men and women do in the various regions has certainly gotten more complex and more dangerous. I'm wondering if you could talk to us a little bit about what we're doing to assist these men and women to do their jobs effectively. I know that there have been requests and different types of activities and discussions around equipment and things of that nature. I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about that, because I think that's important. That's my first question.

My second question is just around the general enforcement. I won't ask you to break down enforcement in every single region in Canada, but I would like you to kind of walk us through and maybe give us a specific example of something in the south shore with respect to what's been happening in terms of enforcement and the different activities around processors being investigated.

I know that you can't tell us everything, but whatever you can tell us to a certain extent would be very helpful.

[Adam Burns]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

The conservation and protection officers have a multitude of responsibilities in their functions that include certainly law enforcement-type activities but also various other activities, such as marine mammal response, the Canadian shellfish sanitation program and habitat enforcement. The role of a C and P officer is diverse and broad.

Specifically related to the concerns we've heard recently from some C and P officers related to dangers that may be present in their working environment, we are working with Labour Canada, with our officers themselves and with other advisers in order to put in place a variety of additional tools that will increase the safety of the officers' activities as well as other training elements to further mitigate the risks that are inherent in what those officers are doing.

Your other question was related to enforcement, in particular in southwest Nova Scotia. As is the case anywhere, there is a period of time when there's an enhanced focus on on-the-ground enforcement activities. We certainly deploy the local resources in a manner that prioritizes that specific issue or enforcement activity. In addition to that, we do work with C and P divisions in other parts of the country to reassign officers temporarily in order to augment the presence. That's something we've done again this year and have done in previous years as well.

We also work with other government agencies, including the Canada Revenue Agency, RCMP, FINTRAC and others, in order to use the resources across the federal family, as well as in partnership with the province. The provinces, of course, have responsibility on the processing sector side and in the enforcement, licensing and permitting capacity there as well. Our objective is to work in concert with all those other enforcement agencies so that we interrupt the overall process of unauthorized activity from the water to the marketplace in order to reduce the benefits that illegal activity can provide to those who are engaged in it.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

How much time do I have left, Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

You have less than a minute.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

With less than a minute, let's just finish it off with a bit of science, if we can pivot from conservation and protection to science.

Just very quickly, during my time as parliamentary secretary I've heard a lot from inshore, offshore and NGOs around the importance of working with DFO in terms of the analysis and the synthesis of science.

I know we have a particular model of how we engage those groups, but I'm wondering, are we looking at other ways to further engage them in those aspects of science—the retrieval of science, the understanding of science and the synthesis of science—in terms of making a broader collaboration deeper?

[Niall O'Dea]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question.

Certainly, it is the department's ongoing and intended to be enhanced program to work actively with partners in further scientific research. Seal science is an example of where we've worked actively with FFAW and other seal industry partners to advance our particular understanding of those various seal stocks. We do likewise in the broader fisheries context and intend to do more in the future.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Kelloway.

That closes off our second hour of committee business. I want to thank Mr. O'Dea, Mr. Burns and especially Mr. Pelletier.

Could you, Mr. Pelletier, pass along a message to the local Coast Guard in Newfoundland on the work they did in saving “The Lucky 7”, as they're known? That could have ended much worse than it did. It was good to see all of them make it back safely to shore. Again, thank you to your staff for the great job they did and the great effort they made in bringing them back to shore. Thank you.

On Monday, we will resume our study of derelict and abandoned vessels, with testimony from witnesses.

I want to thank everybody—the clerk, our analysts and the translation team—for helping to make this meeting a success today.

The meeting is adjourned.