Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be under time because Minister Johnson just took up half of what I was going to say.
My name is Steve Craig, and I thank you for the opportunity to be with you today.
I am the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Nova Scotia, and thank you for having us. It is a pleasure to join you today to discuss some of the impacts that the climate crisis is having on Nova Scotia and on our seafood sector.
In Nova Scotia, seafood is a multi-billion dollar industry, one that employs more than 12,000 people, many in rural communities. The seafood sector is, by its nature, a coastal business and that makes it even more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which is exactly what we saw with hurricane Fiona.
It has taken months to truly understand the impact of this storm on our fisheries and aquaculture infrastructure, on operations and on our coastlines. Fishing vessels stored on land were blown over. There was severe flooding in seafood processing and lobster holding facilities in this province. While most operators had generators, no one was prepared for the two- to three-week power outages. Operators ran out of fuel and couldn't get more, which put inventory of cold storage at risk.
On the aquaculture side there was damage, too, especially on our shellfish farms in northern Nova Scotia. Gear and product in the water were damaged or lost entirely, and the gear operators pulled ashore before the storm in many cases ended up washed to sea because of the storm surge unprecedented in events before.
Many of our processing plants are inches away from the shoreline. Our wharves, two-thirds of which are government-owned small craft harbours, are also susceptible to storm surges. Small craft harbours are already filled beyond capacity and we need more. As we speak today, six of them are not operational at all, and another 14 are operating at less than half of what they are supposed to be.
We are, though, thankful DFO and ACOA came to the table quickly with offers of support and commitments to repair the small craft harbours that are so crucial to our seafood sector and coastal communities.
The seafood sector is an incredibly complex seafood supply chain and we rely heavily on interprovincial trade to get our high-quality seafood to customers around the world. The transportation corridor between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick is a great example. We need commitment from the federal government to help protect the Chignecto Isthmus, which connects us to our New Brunswick neighbours and the rest of Canada and the world. It is our 401 here in Atlantic Canada.
With regard to the response plan, the other thing that became apparent in the aftermath of this storm is the need for flexibility and resources to respond to events like this, to be there with support for our fish harvesters, processors, aquaculture industries and coastal communities when they need us the most.
We know that climate change is also going to impact the wild species found in Nova Scotia's waters and the way our aquaculture industry cultivates product close to our shores. We're looking to our federal counterparts to make sure the resources are in place to collect the data needed to make informed, science-based decisions about resource management.
We're also looking to our federal partners when it comes to innovation in the seafood sector. We need to transition away from fossil fuels, and programs like the Atlantic fisheries fund and the clean technology adoption program are going to continue to be really important in moving this industry along.
I know we're here today to talk about climate change and hurricane preparedness, and our focus is to make sure that we are ready for that. Making our infrastructure strong, our industries prepared and governments that can respond quickly is one of our key goals. However, I don't want to lose sight of the human side of all of this. We are talking about people's livelihoods and we're also talking about their lives. Storms are unpredictable and that means sometimes fish harvesters or processors or sea farmers need to go out in that weather to pull their gear, to check on their vessels, and maybe even to turn on the generators. They are looking to us for help, they're looking to us for leadership and we can't do that alone. We need to work together, together with my colleagues on this panel today, together with industry and together with our partners in the federal government.
Those are my initial remarks.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.