Good morning.
I have been the director general of the Fédération régionale acadienne des pêcheurs professionnels, FRAPP, for 15 years. Several of you have heard me testify before this committee on a number of occasions.
Fisheries are definitely an area where the concept of sustainable development takes on its full significance. Of course, we will talk about sustainable fishing. In that context, marine science plays a crucial role, and it is easy to understand why.
I don't want to overwhelm you with numbers and statistics, but to illustrate the situation properly, I will provide you with the following information. According to data from Fisheries and Oceans Canada collected by the Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters, from 2009 to 2019, the value of seafood products exported by the four Atlantic Canadian provinces went from $2.8 billion to $5.3 billion, for a phenomenal increase of 87% in constant dollars. That is one of the highest increases among all of the country's economic activities, if not the highest.
I had the pleasure to listen to the testimony of other people who testified before you. While I agree on most of the elements raised, I would say, using a very common expression, that the fishing industry is all over the map. I will list a few files currently on the table: habitat, endangered species, marine protected areas, right whales, review of the precautionary approach, blue economy strategy. Those issues are addressed in such disorderly fashion that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. Moreover, climate change must be added to this, as well as market requirements, traceability requirements, and the list goes on. What are we to do in this context? If I understand correctly, that is the question your committee is asking. Let's have a closer look at it.
The one and only scientific survey done with a trawler in the gulf takes place in the summer. According to that survey, redfish accounts for nearly 90% of all species in trawler hauls. That very important factor should sound the alarm bells across the department. In reality, very little is being done about it. A bit of work is being done by the Maurice‑Lamontagne Institute to try to learn more about redfish diet and a few other elements, but that's all. However, using that factor among others, the department reduced shrimp quotas in the gulf while not providing any support or compensation measures for that industry.
It is clear to us that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans must immediately set up work teams to measure the impact of the arrival of such a large redfish biomass in the gulf.
We also feel that this survey is not enough. More must be done and, more importantly, during every season and not only in the summer. That brings up the aspect of cost arising from that the work. Our response is that the model must be rethought by going off the beaten path.
In 2018, the Association des capitaines-propriétaires de la Gaspésie and the FRAPP presented to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans the concept of fishermen-observers who, in collaboration with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, would be allowed to gather all kinds of data and information on species in the gulf. Having not been considered in collaboration with fisher associations, that idea did not get the attention of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Yet we feel that this concept is even more important today than it was in 2018.
Here is what our associations at the FRAPP are telling us.
First, we must act quickly, as fisheries are at risk, including shrimp fisheries.
We also need more transparency from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Decisions made behind closed doors with major impacts on our communities no longer make sense in 2022.
In addition, stock assessment processes must be more in‑depth and be based on more information.
Advisory committees' mandates must also be reviewed and improved, so that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans would be accountable to those committees for its decisions.
Moreover, all the fishing sector and industry stakeholders must be mobilized by holding major conferences in the Atlantic and in the Pacific, by dividing sectors in two parts: coastal fisheries on one side and mid-shore and offshore fisheries on the other. The conferences should become the Canadian forum of the fisheries and marine resources sector, and they should be held ad hoc, at a yet-to-be-defined frequency, either every two years or every three years.
It should also be mandatory to consider socioeconomic factors in decisions made by the department, and not only when it suits some.
Finally, in 2010, the Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters managed to get funding under a program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. That helped create the Canadian Fisheries Research Network, which operated for five years. The network brought together university researchers, industry stakeholders, as well as Department of Fisheries and Oceans authorities. Unfortunately, once the funding ran out, that wonderful project bringing together those three important sectors had to cease operations. We recommend that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans work with the Canadian Council of Professional Fish Harvesters to bring back that model by incorporating the entire socioeconomic aspect as requested by many of us.
Thank you very much for listening to me.
I know that my comments will raise many questions. It will be our pleasure to answer them.