Fisheries Committee on Nov. 29th, 2022

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Through that planning process, is there any consultation happening with local communities, harvesters and so on? We know that much knowledge is gained from talking to those who are in those specific regions.

[Stephanie Hopper]

Certainly. From the outset, that's been the nature of the small craft harbours program. We have a very, very close relationship with the harbour authorities and those working in the communities. There's a very tight relationship there.

As well, when we're doing our planning and are considering any repairs or building, we do consider different climate adaptation tools that are in use, and that we'll also continue to adapt based on recent climate events, to make sure that those considerations are taken into account when we're doing future planning as well.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Thank you.

Were the considerations around rebuilding more resilient infrastructure considered in the decision to implement $100 million to the rebuilding process? How does this play into the budgeting implications?

[Adam Burns]

A portion of the $100 million is for ghost gear retrieval. The portion that is specifically for small craft harbours is for the immediate dredging and minor repair needs as well as for the engineering assessments and the development of longer-term rebuilding plans. Most of that work is separate from long-term climate-resilient infrastructure, but it will be built into the engineering assessments and rebuilding plans that come as a result of that investment.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

If I have a little bit of time, can you speak to what you're hearing through this process on the key features of climate-resilient infrastructure?

I would like to also hear from Mr. Ivany and Mr. Henderson on their perspectives, out on the water, of what they foresee as increasingly more resilient infrastructure so that we're not having to continue to react to instances like this as they occur?

[Stephanie Hopper]

Like I said, we are continuing to work with the harbour authorities. In terms of what sort of climate adaptation tools continue to be refined, if you will, as we go forward, there's obviously no magic solution to anything. However, as we invest and rebuild, that is certainly taken into consideration.

We do.... Again, I can't repeat enough the nature of the close relationship with the harbour authorities and taking their concerns under consideration when doing the planning.

[Chris Henderson, Deputy Commissioner, Operations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

Thank you for the question.

I'll start by pointing out that for us in the Coast Guard, responding is what we do. We will always do that. Sadly, I think it's the case that we'll always have to be responding to extreme weather events.

We're going to continue to try to get it right. We're putting a lot of effort into making sure that our new infrastructure is climate resilient. We've been building new search and rescue lifeboat stations as an example, some in Atlantic Canada and some in British Columbia. Those were made to the best standards we can get and that we know of at the moment.

With respect to consultation, in the past we haven't always done it right, for sure. However, we are consulting now, and I can share an example from British Columbia—Vancouver Island—with Port Hardy. We built a search and rescue lifeboat station there without consultation, and we heard about it. We then built a new environmental response depot in close consultation with the Kwakiutl, and it was a very successful experience. That is a robust facility. It's built high out of the water, with lots of space. It accommodates rising tide, and there's a lot of excess capacity for the work to move up.

We're taking these steps as we go. We're retroactively looking at facilities that need additional work. We're also building climate resilience into our new ships, through the fleet renewal plan, so that there's better sea-keeping, better design, with reduced emissions. We know we're building ships that have longer legs and better capabilities to do search and rescue. Our bay-class lifeboats, for example, can go further; they can do more than the ships they're replacing. We feel that we're going to be better postured to deal with the unfortunate results of extreme weather when they inevitably hit us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Ms. Barron. You were a little bit over, but that's okay. You're just back fresh....

We'll now go to Mr. Arnold, for five minutes or less, please.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Unfortunately, I'm working remotely today.

I have some questions—I believe Mr. Ivany will be best to answer them—and I'd like to pass the other half of my time to Mr. Perkins.

Mr. Ivany, what were the significant effects of hurricane Fiona on Canadian Coast Guard operations in the Atlantic region?

[Gary Ivany, Assistant Commissioner, Atlantic Region, Canadian Coast Guard, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

Thank you very much for the question.

The Canadian Coast Guard in the Atlantic region has unfortunately been dealing with severe weather events quite a bit in the last few years. We had a very good plan going in. We spent a lot of time in the days ahead of hurricane Fiona on preparedness. Through all of that good planning and resources that we put in ahead of time, there were very few impacts at all on Coast Guard floating infrastructure. All of our ships were well positioned away from the storm and ready to respond.

Mariners around Atlantic Canada really heeded warnings for this storm and stayed out of the way. We had cruise ships moving to different ports. We had tankers and ferries all doing the right thing by being in the right place away from the direct impact of the storm.

Direct impacts on Coast Guard in Atlantic Canada, floating assets, were very minor. Certainly our college in Cape Breton received some damage there. However, our staff, officers and officer cadets who were there pretty quickly turned that negative situation into a very positive situation, by opening up the facility on emergency power, making food and supporting Canadians close by who needed assistance.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

What about other land-based assets? Were there other impacts?

[Gary Ivany]

They were very minor. All of our fixed aids of navigation and pretty well all of our towers sustained the winds in that area very well. Certainly, we saw damage around Port aux Basques, but our infrastructure in those areas all stood the challenges that Mother Nature provided them that day.

Recent investments in the oceans protection plan allowed us to put redundant systems into our peripheral marine communications and traffic services sites, as well as harden some of our radar sites. All of those assets functioned very well. Those backup systems all worked when power went down and communication was needed from a vessel traffic services perspective and a safety perspective.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Thank you.

Will any Coast Guard resources previously allocated to other purposes need to be reallocated to deal with restoring capacities after Fiona?

[Gary Ivany]

In this case, it was.... We spend a lot of time on preparedness and readiness in the Coast Guard. Whenever there is a response, we turn all resources to responding.

In certain parts of the plans, whether we were planning to do maintenance or planning to do the preparedness type of work on assets, whether floating or fixed aids, we did need to turn attention to and input additional resources to replace aids and do other minor repairs that had to be carried out to buildings and some infrastructure.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC]

Okay.

I think I have to turn the rest of my time over to Mr. Perkins.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

You have a minute and a half.

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

Thank you.

I'll try to make it quick.

In this excellent report from the committee, which I think, Mr. Chair, you chaired in 2019, “DFO noted that climate change is leading both to greater demands for dredging, but also the extent of repairs required”, and it identified a wharf in New Brunswick that was being undermined. Obviously, no work was done, because that's the one that was impacted by Fiona.

Do you have an assessment of the state of all the small craft harbour wharves and whether they are in Atlantic Canada and whether or not they're able to withstand these kinds of storms?

[Stephanie Hopper]

As I responded earlier to Madame Desbiens, we conduct regular assessments of our harbours and determine on a priority basis the need and the scope, and plan towards...as I said, based on a number of criteria, socio-economic being one of them. We don't have an overall number, as we said earlier, to give you in terms of what that could be for all of our harbours. However, we do regular assessments and reassess as well after certain weather events such as Fiona.

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

Did the wharves that you had recently done projects on in these areas in Nova Scotia and P.E.I. in particular fare better in the storm, or was it the weaker wharves that hadn't had any work done where most of the damage was done?

[Stephanie Hopper]

What we've been seeing is that as we have been incorporating the different climate adaptation tools as work progresses, as we've been doing, as I mentioned before, with the different funding envelopes, whether it be budget 2018 or budget 2001 when reinvesting, those structures are standing up fairly well to significant weather events.

Of course, that depends on where they're located and on a number of other circumstances, but in general, where we are able to invest and are doing that planning, it is seemingly beneficial.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Perkins.

We'll go now to Mr. Cormier for five minutes or less, please.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I know that hurricane Fiona was a little more devastating in other provinces than New Brunswick, but I also know that in southeastern New Brunswick some wharves were heavily damaged.

My first question concerns wharves in northeastern New Brunswick, specifically those in my riding of Acadie-Bathurst. Although hurricane Fiona was not as severe there as in other areas, there was damage. Some docks were damaged. Also, there were problems with silting up at the entrance to some of the docks. As a result, fishers will certainly find it difficult to go fishing at sea in the next season.

Have you done an assessment of the damage to harbours in northeastern New Brunswick, including the silting problems experienced by some of them?

[Stephanie Hopper]

I would like to have a clarification, Mr. Cormier: are you talking about the ports in northern New Brunswick?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I'm talking about the ports of northeastern New Brunswick.

[Stephanie Hopper]

As mentioned, we do assessments of all our ports on a regular basis to determine what the needs are. Certainly, dredging is a challenge at many of our ports. That is why we are working closely with our teams and also with contractors to put in place solutions to avoid delays, impediments or problems during the opening of the fishing season.