Okay.
The survey helps describe shrimp distribution, estimate stock abundance and understand the dynamics of the shrimp population.
In recent years, there has been a discrepancy between fishery indices and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans survey data.
In 2012, the Fisheries and Oceans Canada management, the science branch of the department and the shrimp fishing industry worked together to implement a precautionary approach. During the peer review for this year, the science branch determined that the precautionary approach did not take into account the current environmental conditions and that this risk must be integrated into the precautionary approach right now. We, industry people, read the science branch's document during that peer review, and we were already being asked to integrate it into the precautionary approach without having an opportunity to analyze it and present it to our members.
At a meeting of the shrimp advisory committee, the shrimp industry recommended to follow the current precautionary approach, except for the Sept‑Îles area. According to the current approach, the total allowable catch in that area should be increased by 22.5%, but industry decided that the increase should be only 15% and supported the idea of reviewing the precautionary approach over the course of this year. However, the minister did not follow that industry recommendation and reduced the total allowable catch based on scenarios proposed by the science branch, after the branch presented its document during the peer review. That makes us wonder why a precautionary approach is being implemented when it is being dismissed out of hand.
The peer review process is one thing, but fishers' expertise and data are another. We think that fishers' data deserve to be taken into account as much as scientific data. Fishers are the eyes on the water. They are on the water from April 1, sometimes until November, and even December, while Department of Fisheries and Oceans surveys are carried out only over a 20‑day period in August.
The trust among fishers, the science branch and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is clearly not the best right now. Fishers feel that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans management does not have enough trust in their data and their expertise. However, their goal is not to destroy the species, but to earn a living year after year. They know that resource must be protected for the sustainability of fishing. For the fisher, any decisions made by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on fisheries can impact their fishing business.
The Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat document says that technological developments in the fishing industry—including the use of seabed mapping, echo sounders and new trawls—enable fishers to be more productive than in the past. Our fishers say that this is false, as they have had the same trawls for more than 10 years and have been using sounders for nearly 30 years. So those technologies are not new for fishers.
Predation by redfish also has a significant impact on shrimp. Scientists from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are telling us that redfish eat over 200,000 tonnes of shrimp, while they quantify shrimp biomass at 52,000 tonnes. Those data do not add up. How can redfish eat 200,000 tonnes of shrimp when shrimp biomass is only 52,000 tonnes? We think serious consultations must be held on the impact of predation by redfish on shrimp populations, as well as on the future and the importance of that fishery.
Given the difficult situation that fleet is currently experiencing, it may be timely for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to contribute financially and enable shrimpers to carry out, in collaboration with the science branch, more in-depth research on shrimp and the impact of predation by redfish on shrimp. Research surveys specifically on shrimp could be carried out at a time other than August, in various fishing areas. It goes without saying that a commercial redfish fishery must open. Otherwise, if the data on shrimp consumption by that predator are accurate, will shrimp survive or will it suffer the same faith as cod?
The shrimp advisory committee has a mandate to advise the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on management measures on the conservation and sustainable use of resources. That is the main avenue for consultations with industry. However, industry is completely unaware of the recommendations made to the minister or the measures suggested to them. There is a clear lack of transparency in this case.
Shrimp fishing is going through—