Evidence of meeting #94 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was nations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Executive Director, Fraser Salmon Management Council
Yes, there are times when there are no openings at all, but they still fish because it's the only run they have. Our tradition tells us, if you don't fish, there are no fish.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
That's fair enough.
Does anybody else in the time available want to weigh in on this access to fishery? No. Okay, that's fine.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Hardie.
We'll now go to Madame Desbiens for a quick question.
Bloc
Caroline Desbiens Bloc Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île dOrléans—Charlevoix, QC
Thank you, Chair.
I have a question for all three witnesses.
I’d like to thank them for being here. It’s been very enlightening.
In your respective communities, have you had discussions with Quebec’s Indigenous communities about illegal fishing and other fisheries-related issues?
Mr. Russ, please go ahead.
The other witnesses may respond afterwards.
Director, Policy and Programs, Coastal First Nations - Great Bear Initiative
Thanks for the question.
I would say, no, I haven't personally. I don't know, within the nations I represent, if we have had those conversations. We would definitely be open and willing, if we had the contacts to be able to have some conversations.
Executive Director, Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance
Thank you for the question.
The answer is no. Similar to my colleague, I'm interested in collaborating as required, for sure.
Executive Director, Fraser Salmon Management Council
Thanks for the question.
There's only one indigenous person from Quebec that I've ever met in the fisheries. He was one of the 26 executive directors for the AAROM organizations across Canada. I forget his name. He attended an online meeting where he only spoke in French and he had an interpreter as well.
That's the only contact that I've ever had with Quebec indigenous fishers.
Bloc
NDP
Lisa Marie Barron NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I have so many questions, so I need to prioritize.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I think the question I'm going to focus on is for Mr. Ned-Kwilosintun.
Can you please help me understand and perhaps give a little bit more information around the mark-selective fisheries that you were talking about and why you're not in support of them?
I'm just trying to understand all of the pieces around that and what the rationale is behind that.
Executive Director, Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance
I'll try. I almost need a biologist for that; I pretty much do.
The way I see it is that there are mass marking occurrences happening, say in the territories of nations in the Fraser watershed. They could be at a given hatchery. In the lower Fraser we have three or four. We'll mass mark however many thousands of fish. What is the intent? I'm not sure. Who benefits from that mass marking?
They go out to sea and of course as indigenous first nations, we do not have access to those fish until they return. In the meantime, mark-selective fishing occurs in the ocean in mixed-stock fisheries. The recreational community, the commercial community and maybe some of the first nations communities in the marine waters have access to them.
Now, do those fish return to the nations for access to the terminal waters? Sometimes, maybe they do.
That's our concern. Who are we producing fish for and for what purpose? Is it for conservation, or is it just for harvest?
Those are our challenges with the mark-selective fisheries. There's a lot of controversy over it. There has been for a number of years. We don't believe it's good science or a good benefit to the nations.
Lisa Marie Barron NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I have only 30 seconds.
Can you share any thoughts on what the best path forward would be then, if this method is not being used?
It's a big question.
Executive Director, Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance
Yes, it is a big question and we only have 30 seconds.
We need to manage more terminally. We cannot continue with these mixed-stock fisheries if stocks of concern are continually being accessed.
Primarily, our concern is conservation first. Let those fish get back to where they belong. Then, if there's opportunity for harvest, so be it.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Ms. Barron.
Thank you to our witnesses for being here for the committee today, both in person and electronically by Zoom, and for sharing your knowledge on this very important topic. We'll let you sign off now as we change up and go in camera for a few minutes to do some committee business. Again, thank you for your participation here today.
We'll suspend for a moment while we switch over to in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]