Go ahead, Adam.
Evidence of meeting #17 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 capelin.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #17 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 capelin.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:25 p.m.
Adam Burns Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Fisheries and Harbour Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Thanks.
Mr. Chair, the minister absolutely correctly reflected the role that forage fish play. We do have a policy frame, including a bycatch policy to ensure that we're not intercepting other fish in directed fisheries, as well as our forage fish policy. Both are meant to help further guide management decisions to protect forage fish stocks, which do play such a critical role in the ecosystem and, as the member noted, in the recovery of groundfish such as cod.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Arnold.
We'll now go to Mr. Morrissey for five minutes or less, please.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Thank you, Chair.
Minister, who is on the advisory committee that will meet on the 25th? Could somebody tell me who this advisory committee is? Give me a general makeup. How many fishers and how many from the bureaucracy will be there?
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
3:25 p.m.
Regional Director General, Newfoundland and Labrador Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I don't have the exact list, but it would be harvesters from different feed sectors in different regions, the processing sector and DFO, as well as the provinces. Some of the provincial governments will be represented, as well as the DFO.
I can get a detailed list, but I don't have that.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Have any of these other parties requested a change of the opening date on this fishery we're meeting on today, outside of the two fishers?
3:25 p.m.
Regional Director General, Newfoundland and Labrador Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Not that I'm aware of.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Would I be correct in assuming that two individuals want to do something that the rest of the industry is not fully on board with?
3:25 p.m.
Regional Director General, Newfoundland and Labrador Region, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Or they certainly haven't made a statement about it.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
I think the advisory committee meeting is happening on the 25th, so I don't have any information as to whether the members of the advisory committee believe that this is a request that makes sense or that they would support.
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Have there been requests from this committee for that advisory committee to meet earlier?
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
That's a pretty broad reflection of the industry and the stakeholders involved. Would that be correct?
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Minister, could you opine on one part, because what I see here is a couple of individuals who do not like the management practice that has global support? Do you get many requests from a group of fishers that are contrary to where the general industry wants to go? If you managed the fishery that way, what would the fishery look like in Canada?
3:25 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
I can't say that I have received requests from two individual fishers to make a change to an entire framework of a fishery. That's not been my experience.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
So, in this instance, the two fishers involved here have not reached out to you directly to change this.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
No, they didn't. They reached out to me through their member of Parliament, whom I met with on this issue.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Okay. As a public figure, I often hear from various fishers with contrary points of view. If we went down that road in every different direction we're asked to go, we would have a very different-looking fishery, and I'm not sure that it would be all that viable. I can understand and use your comments that public trust must be maintained in the process, and we do that through these advisory groups. Sometimes as a politician I'm not happy with the decisions they make, but until this stage, I will err on accepting their decisions through this advisory process, which is made up of a broad base and uses the science of the department to give us the best decision. I'm pleased to see that it's a process that you will stay with.
Mr. Chair, I don't have any further questions, unless the minister wants to comment on my comments.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
Joyce Murray Liberal Vancouver Quadra, BC
Thank you for that perspective, because there are indeed tens of thousands of people for whom the fishery is very important, for their livelihood and their communities. We cannot manage it one by one to satisfy individual interests. That's why having a framework for management of the fishery is so important for public trust and for conservation of the fishery, so that our fish and seafood can continue to be a critically important economic driver for individuals, their families, their communities and our country.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Morrissey.
That completes two rounds of questioning.
Minister, it's my understanding, and I think the committee was informed, that you were available for the first hour.