Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members.
I'd like to start today by acknowledging the ongoing extreme wildfire situation that is affecting many Canadians in several regions across the country, including Nova Scotia, Quebec, Alberta and the Northwest Territories. While the situation there is evolving, we know that the impact is far-reaching, and our thoughts are with those affected by these extreme events.
My name is Neil Davis. I'm the regional director of fisheries management in the Pacific region, which includes B.C. and the Yukon. I'm honoured to be appearing before you today with my colleagues: Mark Waddell, who is our director general of fisheries policy, and Jennifer Mooney, our director of national licensing operations.
To begin, I will acknowledge that I am joining you today from Vancouver, located on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
My colleagues and I appreciate the opportunity to provide the committee with information on our activities in response to recommendations in your 2019 report.
The department understands the importance of fisheries to those who depend on the resource for their livelihoods. Our mandate commitments to reconciliation with indigenous peoples, the blue economy and the Pacific salmon strategy initiative all relate to the importance of managing fisheries to prioritize conservation and sustainable use, comply with our legal obligations, such as ensuring that indigenous rights are upheld, and promote the economic viability of commercial fisheries.
As you heard in the 2019 hearings, fisheries management and related licensing policy evolved differently on the west coast than on the east coast, with a primary focus here on managing fisheries to ensure the conservation of fish stocks and on addressing the challenges posed by overcapacity in the fishing fleet.
In 2020, the government issued a response to the committee's 2019 report. Among other things, the response acknowledged the minister's authority to consider social, economic and cultural factors in decision-making, noted that the needs and rights of indigenous harvesters must be respected and stated that engagement must include a cross-section of interests to arrive at approaches that are tailored to the B.C. context.
The 2019 report made recommendations for policy changes on matters that have significant implications for the livelihoods of fishers. We also know that fishery participants have diverse and strongly held views about some of these topics. Given this, DFO has planned and consulted on our work to date carefully. We have taken a staged approach to responding to the issues raised.
There are a number of the committee's recommendations that DFO has already taken steps to implement, and there are others where DFO plans to undertake more in-depth engagement as part of broader consultations planned on reforms to commercial fisheries that can support socio-economic objectives.
Since 2020, the department has conducted early engagement with industry associations, some first nations organizations and fishery advisory boards to gather initial views and questions on the 2019 report. This has informed the department's steps in the past several years to respond to the issues the committee raised.
I'll briefly summarize our work on specific recommendations here, and I'm happy to provide additional detail during this hearing.
In 2021, we completed a comparative analysis of fisheries policies and regulations on the west and east coasts, which aimed to identify changes that could support independent commercial harvesters on the west coast. Last year, we completed an assessment of the technical requirements and feasibility of developing a public-facing licence and quota registry.
In February 2022, the department launched the beneficial ownership survey to identify the domestic and foreign entities that are benefiting directly or indirectly from commercial fishing licences and quota.
Work has been initiated to further strengthen socio-economic information to support decision-making. This includes initiating new economic research and data collection through surveys to fill gaps. The first of these surveys launched in November 2022, with others getting under way this year. The department has also been working to make that socio-economic data more accessible by developing new commercial and recreational fishery data dashboards. These are planned to come online this fall.
DFO has also reviewed and updated its policy and terms of reference for commercial fishery advisory boards.
We expect to implement the next stage of an engagement plan to further consult on the work we've done and on the related issues we are discussing here. We're committed to working with commercial fishery participants to better understand their perspectives on the current challenges and potential solutions.
Thank you. We look forward to answering any questions you may have.
