Fisheries Committee on Dec. 2nd, 2022

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for the deputy minister.

We've had announcements that the vessels to be used for cod and capelin surveys this fall and winter won't be ready, even though it was promised they'd be ready.

In setting the upcoming northern cod quotas, will you put more emphasis on logbook data from harvesters, which shows tremendous catch rates over the past three years? Actually, they're accelerating. Will you place more emphasis on the data you have from harvesters to make up for the data missing from the trawl surveys?

[Annette Gibbons]

That's a very specific question. I do not have the answer to that. I know we are doing our best to prioritize the different fisheries and the collection of data, based on the reality we're in with the vessels. In terms of other sources we will use, I will turn to Adam.

[Adam Burns, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Fisheries and Harbour Management, Department of Fisheries and Oceans]

Thanks for the question.

In making fisheries management decisions, we use the best available information at our disposal: the most up-to-date science advice, other logbook reporting—as you mentioned—socio-economic considerations and indigenous knowledge. All of those things, as is always the case, will be part of what is taken into account as the minister makes her decision in this fishery.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

I'll go back to mackerel. Mr. Morrissey mentioned mackerel earlier.

The U.S. set a quota of 4,000 tons this past year. Typically, the Canadian quota is set to match the American. The Americans would make an allowance in expectation that Canadians would take in an equal quota. Midway through the season, the Americans increased their quota by 20%.

Based on that, do you think this shows the Americans have faith that the mackerel stock is healthier than they originally thought? Would they increase their quota if they thought the stock was in jeopardy?

[Annette Gibbons]

I can't comment on the detailed rationale they had. We certainly try to co-operate with the U.S. on a range of different fisheries.

My understanding is that they significantly reduced the catch for 2022 because of conservation concerns.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

I know Mr. Goodyear, a fellow Newfoundlander and Labradorian. It's great to see you here at the committee.

Mr. Goodyear, what reports on mackerel did you hear from around your home area out there in Notre Dame Bay last summer? Have you heard that mackerel was scarce?

[Richard Goodyear]

Mr. Chair, I have not. To be frank, I'm probably not as well connected to my hometown as I should be. Otherwise, I'd have a better answer.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

I guess I'll go back to some shipbuilding concerns here.

In the 2014 report, the Auditor General recommended that the Canadian Coast Guard assess risks associated with changing traffic patterns and update its requirements for icebreaking services.

Has this happened yet?

[Annette Gibbons]

I can certainly start.

We would be constantly updating where the needs are and trying to ensure that we have the equipment and the vessels in the right places to do what needs to be done to keep shipping channels open.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

According to the Auditor General's report, it says the answer's no, that this hasn't happened. The 2022 audit revealed that action required to identify the need for safety and surveillance in the 2021 report had not been taken.

Can you guarantee that we won't be back here next year at this exact same time with yet another Auditor General report's identifying these same shortcomings?

[Annette Gibbons]

The government has indicated that it agrees with the recommendations and will take action to address them.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

The standard life of icebreakers is 25 to 30 years. What's the age range of the icebreakers that we have in service right now?

[Annette Gibbons]

I'll turn to Chris for the details.

They're getting on in age. I'll say that.

[Chris Henderson]

Thank you, Deputy.

We have quite a wide range of ages. The newest are within 10 years. Those are the interim icebreakers that we purchased that were Swedish.

The pre-existing Canadian fleet dates back to the 1980s, so they're coming up on 40 years of service.

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL]

Are some of them as old as 53 years?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

Thank you, Mr. Small. Your time is up.

We'll now go to Mr. Cormier, who's online, for six minutes or less, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

After the cod fishery was closed in the 1990s, where did the funding come from to compensate the fishers affected by the closure? Was it from Fisheries and Oceans Canada or other departments?

Earlier, we talked about the closure of the mackerel and herring fishery. Has compensation been paid for any fisheries other than the cod fishery?

If you can't answer my questions immediately, I would like you to provide the answers in writing to the committee.

[Annette Gibbons]

I'll answer your questions, but I think we're still going to send you the information in writing.

Several measures were taken to respond to the closure of the cod fishery. There is no doubt that new funding from the fiscal framework will be allocated to that.

Furthermore, we have indeed offered compensation for other fisheries in the past, but that is not the current policy.

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

We would appreciate it if you could send the information to the committee.

Mr. Chair, I'll give the rest of my time to my colleague Ken Hardie.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

We had the incident with the Zim Kingston, and I think we got lucky that there happened to be towing assets and firefighting assets available to us that weren't ours. They belonged to somebody else, and they just happened to be there.

What are we doing on the west coast to make sure we have the capacity to deal with towing and firefighting?

[Annette Gibbons]

We have a lot of different programs and measures in place and a lot of vessels on the water.

I'll ask Chris to provide more details.

[Chris Henderson]

Thank you for the question.

We have two emergency towing vessels, the Atlantic Raven and the Atlantic Eagle. Those are leased vessels that are on the water 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are providing that emergency towing standby capacity.

Through OPP 1, we purchased tow kits that were distributed to the existing Coast Guard fleet. We have a program to train our Coast Guard sailors on the use of those tow kits.

In addition, the national strategy on emergency towing is an in-depth study on the risks for towing nationally that will then inform future decisions about it.

The last thing is with respect to firefighting at sea. Of course, a fire at sea is a sailor's worst enemy. Specifically with respect to the recommendation in the study, we are taking a look at how we can extend firefighting capability in the new ships that we'll be building. We'll probably not be able to put firefighting capability into all of them, but certainly in a good number of them.

Just to be very clear, we won't see Coast Guard sailors going onto other ships to fight fire on those ships. This is external support to the ship's crew.

If I may take a moment here, I would like to make a correction to an earlier answer I provided to the committee with respect to the number of ships that have been delivered so far. I mentioned 16 “bay” class search and rescue lifeboats. The number is actually 14. We have 12 and we're getting two more in the next two weeks. My apologies for getting the number wrong.

Thank you.

[Ken Hardie, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Mr. Chair, do I have time left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ken McDonald]

You have two minutes.