Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good day, members of the committee.
I would like to begin by recognizing I am speaking to you from Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq people. This territory was covered by the treaties of peace and friendship that Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik or Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726. The treaties did not deal with the surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik—Maliseet—title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations.
My name is Todd Williams. I'm the acting director general of fisheries resource management substantively the senior director of fisheries management operations at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. With me today are Brent Napier, acting director general for conservation and protection, and Jennifer Mooney, director of national licensing operations.
I appreciate the opportunity to be here before this committee on behalf of the department to speak to the commissioner of the environment and sustainable development's audit on monitoring fisheries catch, which was tabled in Parliament on November 7, 2023.
The commissioner has provided parliamentarians and Canadians with independent analyses and recommendations in their audit on the monitoring of fisheries catch. The commissioner's report raises awareness of the challenges that the government and its partners face with regard to fisheries monitoring. On behalf of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, I would like to thank the commissioner for his work and acknowledge the report's findings. Moreover, the department welcomes the recommendations put forth in the report and is taking action to address them.
While we agree that there are areas for improvement, we are not in agreement with the broad conclusion that catch monitoring programs in commercial fisheries were not sufficient to meet our fishery objectives. All of our commercial fisheries have catch monitoring programs, and harvest decisions are based on a robust combination of data from those programs along with data from scientific surveys of stocks.
With regard to catch monitoring, the department is in the process of implementing its fishery monitoring policy and recognizes the need to accelerate this work. This is why the federal government has invested $30.9 million from this fiscal year to 2028, with $5.1 million ongoing to support the implementation of this policy. This funding will help accelerate work to achieve the overarching policy goal, which is to ensure that fishery monitoring programs produce reliable, timely and accessible fish catch information.
In addition, Fisheries and Oceans Canada will continue to make improvements to the at-sea observer program by working collaboratively with at-sea observer companies.
The expansion of electronic logbooks and the development of the Canadian fisheries information system, CFIS, are major efforts to improve and enhance catch reporting services, which the department believes are crucial to ensuring that modernization and data collection are at the forefront of the fishing industry.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada is committed to continuing to improve our catch monitoring programs and introducing more efficient and effective methods to collect and verify catch data. As part of this commitment, DFO is making strides to modernize catch information systems, modernize the observer program and implement the national fisheries monitoring policy.
In closing, Fisheries and Oceans Canada is committed to sustainably managing Canada’s fisheries for the long-term benefit of all Canadians. We recognize the essential role that robust catch data has in achieving that goal and are confident that our investments to strengthen catch monitoring over the coming years will have long-term benefits for Canada’s fisheries.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear today. We would welcome your questions.
Thank you.