Evidence of meeting #98 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 enforcement.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We have accomplished quite a bit in the regulatory development process in the past year, so we are really pushing. I can't speak about approvals, because that's outside my control, but certainly we are really pushing to move as quickly as we can on the regulation.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Do you have draft regulations you're pushing through the process now?
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
We are very advanced in the regulatory process.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Okay. I'm going to take a bit of a change of pace, if I could.
Dr. John Reynolds, who's the chair of COSEWIC, was before this committee last year, and I asked him about elvers. Some of what I've read in your responses to the industry has been that we have to be very cautious, that we can't increase the TAC to give more access, because we're going through a species-at-risk and COSEWIC process, although there are enormous and plentiful elvers on the east coast.
I asked if they could separate, through the SARA and COSEWIC processes, the elvers where there is a challenge in Ontario and the St. Lawrence, because of the damming of lakes and that kind of thing, versus the east coast, where that doesn't happen. He said yes, it is for two reasons: One, they are in more abundance and we can separate that in the process, and two, they probably have slight genetic differences, although they are all born in the same place.
Why is it that when the previous minister wrote me back on that issue, she said there was no way to do that?
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
There was no way to separate out the two—
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
It's the Atlantic from the inland elver issue.
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
I can't speak to that. I would be happy to provide you with more detail. I don't know if anyone here—
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
We've been told you will not issue it and they will not do a DU, which is to designate separately....
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
It's not because of any issue or science behind it, because it doesn't appear you have any science.
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
There are science assessments on the eel population, for sure.
Conservative
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
It's the same population.
February 13th, 2024 / 5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Yes and no.... Every year the only science that goes on for elvers has been on the East River in Chester. The East River at Chester is where the industry has paid for the science that has been used by the department.
Why didn't you at least put the enforcement on the East River so the science could be done last year?
Will you ensure that river is safe, so the science can be done this year?
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The river is included in our overall enforcement plan. Specific sites would be very much the determination of conservation and protection based on the intelligence and the risk assessment of where to put resources at any given time.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
In the memo to the minister last year to close the elver fishery down, it said that they would leave that open so the science could be done that year, yet no enforcement was done on that river, so no science was done.
I'd like a guarantee that the science will be done this year on that river.
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
The science is under way. We have plans to continue the science on the river. There's no change in that.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
You have plans, but there was none last year. You're guaranteeing me here that you will do the science on the East River this year.
Deputy Minister, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Maybe I'll take it back, Mr. Chair. I don't want to mislead anyone.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Every day last year.... Here's just a sample.
The minister and Mr. Kerr were emailed by the industry with specific reports of poaching going on in the rivers. They have live, active cameras. These are not the hundreds of rivers that aren't licensed, which had poaching. They're these rivers.
They never got a response once from DFO or DFO enforcement. Not one of the people on here was arrested, including the case I brought up last week, where the fyke net was stolen by the elver fishery. That was reported to DFO and no charges were laid against the individual who stole the net, even though it had a GPS tracker on it and a DFO licence. Why is no enforcement happening when the industry complains?
One of these rivers, the Sackville River, is two minutes from your enforcement office, yet nobody ever came.
Acting Director General, Conservation and Protection, Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Thank you for the question.
I can't speak to what happened last year, but I know that there is a plan in place this year that contemplates a number of improvements and additions of resources as well.
Conservative
Rick Perkins Conservative South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
You were in charge last year. You can't explain—
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Yes, I did. Now your time is expired.
We will now go to Mr. Hardie for five minutes or less.