Fisheries Committee on Nov. 15th, 2022

[Martin Mallet]

Same here.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Briefly, and if you could maybe follow up in writing to the committee, how would you manage a bait fishery in 2023? Could you provide that recommendation to the committee? Can you comment briefly on what type of a fishery you would visualize, beginning with Melanie and then Martin?

[Melanie Giffin]

I think there would be a number of management measures that could be considered, such as a lower TAC, an increased size. However, ultimately I would feel more comfortable talking to the mackerel advisory group here on P.E.I. and submitting the comments in writing to your committee, rather than making any commitment on my own right now.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Okay. Thanks, Ms. Giffin.

[Martin Mallet]

I'll repeat what Melanie just mentioned there. A few other options would be to have an e-log program or a paper log program with some dockside monitoring, since it would be a very limited fishery and it would have to be monitored.

Louis, do you want to add anything there?

[Louis Ferguson]

I think everything has been said.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Mr. Cheverie, as a fisher, could you comment? What type of enforcement or regulations would you suggest, from the fisher perspective, would be needed to have a limited bait fishery next year?

[Nathan Cheverie]

I would expect something along the lines of a weekly TAC per individual. There would be no sale of the fish. It would be just fish for personal use. Obviously, it would all be 100% monitored. Maybe there'd be limitations on gear.

Currently in the commercial fishery, we were allowed to run 100 hooks when we had the closure. Then for the bait fisheries open before, the number of hooks was usually less. Then there would be a weekly allowance for what we would be allowed to go for.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Thank you.

[Nathan Cheverie]

It would be things like that.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Good. I appreciate your candidness.

Martin and Melanie, you both reference that a recovery plan needs a seal hunt. I believe that was your comment, Martin. Then, Melanie, you referenced that a grey seal reduction plan needs to be put in place as part of this.

Could you elaborate? How do you accomplish that without having the Americans focus on Canada?

[Martin Mallet]

I may start there and mention that there is a grey seal and harp seal quota every year, but it's not being met because we don't have enough hunters out there. We absolutely need to find ways to train new hunters and also maybe subsidize the hunt in different ways so that it's feasible to go out there and actually hunt seals and make a little bit of profit from it while at the same time developing the personal-use or recreational seal-hunting culture across the Maritimes. I think that would be a good step forward.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Melanie, could you answer briefly? I have 80 seconds left.

[Melanie Giffin]

Briefly, I can just say that I agree with Martin and his approach. I think the PEIFA feels the same way the MFU does on this topic.

[Bobby Morrissey, Liberal, Egmont, PE]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Morrissey.

That concludes our first round of testimony and questioning for this particular meeting.

I want to say thank you to the witnesses who have appeared, albeit virtually, sharing their valuable information with the committee on this very important study that we're in the middle of right now.

We'll suspend for a moment while we change out the panels and get ready for the last 45 minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

I now call the meeting to order.

I'd like to welcome our witnesses from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

We have with us in person Marc LeCouffe, regional director, fisheries and harbours management, gulf region, and Mr. Todd Williams, senior director, resource management. Online, we have Jean-Yves Savaria, regional director of science, Quebec.

I apologize if I didn't pronounce names anywhere close to right.

Welcome.

We'll now start off with a five-minute opening statement from the department officials.

[Todd Williams, Senior Director, Resource Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

Thank you very much, Chair.

My name is Todd Williams. I'm also the acting director general of fisheries and resource management at Fisheries and Oceans.

I'm joined today by Marc LeCouffe, regional director of fisheries and harbour management in the gulf region, and Jean-Yves Savaria, regional director of science in the Quebec region.

On March 30 of this year, the minister communicated her decision to close commercial and bait fisheries for Atlantic mackerel. This decision was based on the most recent and best peer-reviewed scientific assessment of the stock. That assessment determined that the Atlantic mackerel biomass is at a historic low. Further, the assessment indicated that overfishing has led to a collapse in the age structure, with relatively few productive fish remaining in the population.

This was the continuation of a worrying trend that has persisted for a decade. It confirmed that reductions in total allowable catch and improvements to monitoring and reporting—though significant—were not sufficient to rebuild Atlantic mackerel to sustainable levels.

In making that decision, we had to strike a fair balance between the economic and cultural importance of the Atlantic mackerel fishery in eastern Canada and the viability of the resulting stock. It was of course an incredibly difficult decision to make, considering the livelihoods that were directly and indirectly affected. The decision was also science-based and made in the interest of responsible management of the resource.

Mackerel is fished mainly as open, competitive commercial and bait fisheries. A number of methods are employed throughout eastern Canada, from gillnet and handlines to trap nets and purse seines. In addition to the commercial and bait fisheries, catch also occurs recreationally as bycatch in other fisheries and in food, social and ceremonial fisheries.

In 2021, Canada's landed value of Atlantic mackerel was $8.6 million. Out of about 10,000 enterprises in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, 753 took part in mackerel fishery. Out of these 753 enterprises, it was estimated by the department that about 15% of total revenue was derived from mackerel fishing.

In the five seasons from 2009 to 2013, Atlantic mackerel catches fell from approximately 42,000 metric tonnes to about 8,000. The total allowable catch at the beginning of this period was 75,000 tonnes and was reduced to 36,000 by 2013. The numbers clearly indicated difficulty in exploiting the resource.

From 2014 to 2021, the total allowable catch was set between 10,000 and 4,000 tonnes.

In eastern Canada, this pelagic forage fish plays a vital role in the ecosystem and in the fishing industry. It is an important food source for other species, including tuna and Atlantic cod, and is a traditional bait in certain commercial fisheries, such as the lobster and snow crab fisheries.

The need to make concerted efforts to rebuild the mackerel stock is clearly demonstrated by a decade of assessments that represent the best available science. The department's commitment to such action is reinforced by recent amendments to the Fisheries Act that mandate a rebuilding plan for major stocks like this that are below their limit reference points, which is also referred to as the critical zone. It is a level below which serious harm to the sustainability of the stock occurs.

Small pelagic fish like Atlantic mackerel are good candidates for rebuilding, however. These species grow relatively fast and mature young. The department is optimistic that this stock could rebuild with the continuation of strong management measures. Increasing spawning stock biomass and protecting fish until they reach more typically productive older life stages would have a positive effect on recruitment and would promote rebuilding of the stock.

Looking forward, we continue to work to ensure that a resumed fishery will be improved with better monitoring and managed in a way to optimize spawning potential.

We have also been engaging with our colleagues in the United States to promote complementary actions that serve the interest of harvesters in both countries as well as the transboundary mackerel stock. These efforts, while painful at this time, are intended to restore the essential role of mackerel in the ecosystem.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you for that.

We'll now go to Mr. Perkins for six minutes or less, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for joining us today in this important study.

In your opening statement, you mentioned that only 15% of fishers fishing mackerel derive their income from it, but most of the mackerel is a bait fishery and is therefore the most important part of the $4-billion lobster fishery. Is that correct?

[Todd Williams]

Yes. It is a critical part of that fishery. There's no doubt.

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

The integrated fisheries management plan on the DFO website for Atlantic mackerel—it's from 2007, but it has been periodically updated—says that the spawning temperature begins at 9°C for mackerel and the maximum is between 10°C and 12°C.

Is that correct?

[Todd Williams]

I'll defer to Jean-Yves Savaria to field that question.

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

All right.

Dr. Dominique Robert, who appeared before this committee and who participates in a lot of your studies, admitted in his testimony that quite often DFO has been going out when the water temperature is lower than 9°C. It's been doing that quite frequently. The water is sometimes as high as 14°C, which is too hot.

When DFO was doing spawning science on mackerel and you no longer had the catch data, which was a critical part of your science, you lost half the science. The other half of the science was being done at a time when the water temperature was too cold for mackerel to spawn. Are you surprised that it shows that the spawning biomass is too small, when you're sampling when the spawning biomass isn't there?

[Todd Williams]

I'll defer to Jean-Yves Savaria to answer the question related to the spawning issues and the temperature.