Fisheries Committee on Dec. 4th, 2024

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

How is it that we're hearing this kind of comment from people on the ground? Is there a gap in the chain of communication that the department missed that could be corrected, in good faith?

As I was saying earlier to the minister, we aren't fooled. Academics have studied this and have done a very serious double master's study. The results tell us that the psychological shock caused by the fisheries crisis in Quebec was almost as great as the one caused by the events in Lac-Mégantic. That's quite something.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Madam Desbiens. Your time has gone over.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

In short, we have to look for solutions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We'll now go to Ms. Barron for six minutes or less, please.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome back, witnesses.

Deputy Minister Gibbons, I'll put these questions to you. Then if somebody else can answer, that's okay as well.

My first question is about the ghost gear program. We know that many organizations have been taking part in the important work of cleaning up our oceans and that there has been a lot of success as a result of this. I don't need information about what that looks like, but now the concern is that we have cuts. I'm hearing that an international conference is coming up in February that's likely going to talk about how great the program is, but how much can be celebrated when the funding is now cut? This means that the people doing the work are going to be out of jobs. They're going to move into other areas and the costs are going to double.

When it starts up again with funding, if it starts up again, there will be more damage and implications, so I don't understand the logic behind cutting this vital program. I'm wondering whether you can share what the plan is, other than everybody gathering to pat themselves on the back at this conference in February.

[Annette Gibbons]

The program wasn't cut. The program was for a certain period of time, so the program reached its natural end.

On the issue of ghost gear and the impact of gear on ecosystems and marine mammals, there's a much broader body of work on that beyond just retrieving ghost gear. There is whalesafe gear, as an example, and whalesafe gear strategies that we're working on. In fact, we have some pilots right now, in LFAs 36, 38 and 38B, with a different type of gear to minimize impacts on whales.

There are lots of different pieces we are engaged on. The session in February you're referring to is about whalesafe gear.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

I appreciate that, Deputy Minister.

I recognize—and I know we've talked about this as a committee—the importance of ensuring that the different types of gear are whalesafe, but I'm hearing directly from organizations that have fully participated in ghost gear cleanup and had much success in doing so that the funding has been cut. Can you explain why these organizations are no longer getting funding to clean up ghost gear and perhaps give some rationale as to how this is a cost savings? It's going to cost us more money in the long term.

[Annette Gibbons]

As I said at the start, it was a time-limited program. It was an initiative, if you will, and we reached the end of that initiative. We still carry on much work with respect to the management of gear to minimize impacts.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

As for my next question, if I can be honest, I don't feel like I got a straight answer from the minister. I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt that we were having some interpretation issues at the time, so I thought I would ask you for some clarification about the European green crab. European green crabs are recognized as one of the world's most destructive invasive species. We know there was funding for them through the BCSRIF, which is joint federal and provincial funding.

My question is actually being asked of me by organizations that are involved in this work. Will you be directing funding towards maintaining long-term control and early detection programs Canada-wide?

[Annette Gibbons]

We do things through different programs. We have ongoing programs. We have ongoing aquatic invasive species work in the department, contribution programs and support for provinces, for example—various initiatives. The BCSRIF is a time-limited program. As the minister said, with the re-election of the B.C. government and letting the ground settle there, there will no doubt be discussions on the renewal of BCSRIF. That is another avenue, for example, for dealing with aquatic invasive species.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

I want to highlight what I was pointing to before. The Coastal Restoration Society has cleaned up 780,000 European green crabs since November 2021 in Ahousaht, Clayoquot and Sooke waters. It's an incredible number. I'm just imagining how quickly they will reproduce and create so many more. I hope that organizations like the Coastal Restoration Society get the answers they need and the funding required to maintain and keep up the important work they are doing in our marine ecosystems.

In the last minute that I have, I'm going to point out that when my colleague, the MP for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, brought forward an Order Paper question, he received a response on October 25, 2024, that was, for lack of better words, highly inadequate. The question sought a detailed breakdown of how the government has spent funds under the Pacific salmon strategy initiative. We're particularly concerned that insufficient funds are being invested in stock assessment and that the collection of basic escapement data has been declining for decades despite the promises of the wild salmon policy.

Given these concerns, Mr. Chair, I'd like to move the following motion:

That the Committee request Fisheries and Oceans Canada to provide documentation detailing in the current fiscal year a) the amount of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative budget allocation that has been allocated, and the amount spent, for stock assessment; b) under PSSI's Conservation and Stewardship pillar, the list of specific projects that have received funding commitments and the amounts committed to each project; and c) the total amount of funding that has been disbursed to date since 2021 under each of the strategy’s pillars.

I bring that forward in the hopes that we can agree to have some answers to the very important questions that impact us all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Go ahead, Mr. Kelloway.

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

I just have a point of order on this.

I'm wondering if this needs to go to notice. I'm just looking at the rules.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We're in committee business.

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

Can that then be forged ahead?

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

We're in estimates. It's spending and estimates.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We're not in committee business, but it's in order.

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

Okay. I'm just checking. I'm just doing my due diligence.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I'll ask if there's unanimous consent, which would avoid an actual vote count. I see thumbs up or heads nodding on this side.

Yes, Mr. Morrissey.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Could we get a written copy of that? Then we could we suspend for a moment while we see it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

It's been sent.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Could we suspend until we read it?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We'll suspend for a moment

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

We're back. I'll ask the clerk to count the votes.

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

I think it's unanimous, Chair.