Fisheries Committee on Nov. 25th, 2025

[Clifford Small, Conservative, Central Newfoundland, NL]

Actors? I don't think fishermen are actors. They go to sea in Canada's most dangerous and deadly industry and their livelihoods are being stripped out from underneath their feet. To come to this committee today and have fishermen and the fishing industry stakeholders be termed “actors”.... Do you know what? I think an “actor” might be something like the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

Are you familiar with—

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Mr. Small, we are over time here. There will be another opportunity to ask questions.

With that, I'm going to go to Mr. Klassen for six minutes.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thanks to all the witnesses for appearing here today.

There is a lot of great information in these reports. I'm looking forward to—hopefully—meeting our targets in 2030.

This question is for Kathy Graham, please.

The report mentions the importance of “healthy oceans” and the risks of the “loss of biodiversity”. Can you tell us some of the economic benefits that an area may see because of the creation of a marine protected area? You mentioned some numbers about what kinds of job creation we could be looking at.

[Kathy Graham]

Some of the economic benefits that we are starting to observe are, for example, as I referenced in the speech, with the lobster industry in the Eastport marine protected area.

We're also observing an increase in innovation in terms of some of the research and development that is happening with respect to the emergence of new technologies associated with, for example, the monitoring or remote sensing for marine protected areas. As well, there are new opportunities for job employment, associated with monitoring and sampling and those types of activities with respect to management in the marine protected areas.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

You also talked a bit about the west coast in particular and the numbers you referenced.

[Kathy Graham]

With respect to the project finance for permanence agreement that was signed with the Province of British Columbia and 17 first nations, as well as philanthropic organizations, the estimates are projecting the creation of approximately 3,000 jobs and the onset of approximately 200 businesses, in addition to actually achieving the conservation benefits.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you.

Mr. DeMarco, what is the process of creating an NMCA and does the consultation process exclude harvesters?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

I'll touch on that before turning it over to the departments that actually carry out that work.

Ideally, the consultation process for any marine protected or conserved area, including an NMCA, would include all affected communities and stakeholders.

I'll turn it over to the departments for more specifics on that.

[David Millar]

That's great. Thanks.

Certainly, for national marine conservation areas established by Parks Canada, there's an extensive consultation process. We typically undertake a feasibility study before moving towards the actual negotiation of the establishment of a national marine conservation area. That process, that feasibility study, is done in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including, of course, the fishing industry, as well as any other industries that may have an interest in the area. These include local communities, indigenous partners and municipal and provincial governments, etc.

It's a fairly extensive process. We often will establish advisory committees with impacted stakeholders and industries, as well as community meetings, direct engagement with industries and online engagement. We try to run as extensive a consultation process as we can to get all the feedback to inform the best decision.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you.

I'm going to come back to Mr. DeMarco one more time.

There's a lot of concern about the 30 by 30 target impacting the fishing industry, but Canada has the third ocean, the Arctic Ocean. How is DFO using that in relation to reaching our goal of 30 by 30?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

Well, all three Canadian oceans are important from a conservation perspective. How is it using the Arctic Ocean in terms of contributing to the 30%? Of course, a good portion of the increase in protected areas, from 2015 to now, has included marine protected and conserved areas in a variety of regions, including the Arctic.

One, in particular, is significant in size. I can show you the largest one under consideration in exhibit 5. That one would contribute 5.6%, just on its own, so that would currently be the largest candidate site. It's quite advanced.

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Millar, could you talk to us a little bit about how the consultation happened? Was there any push-back from the consultation with all the advisory committees with which you were meeting?

[David Millar]

You mean in general, or with respect to a specific area?

[Ernie Klassen, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

I would mean in general.

[David Millar]

We always get a range of different views. We try to work with communities that want to work with us, and are enthusiastic about establishing a national marine conservation area. However, you know, we live in a diverse country, and there are always different perspectives. We try to listen to those perspectives to see if there are ways to accommodate the interests or to mitigate any concerns that exist.

Very often, we find, through conversations, that although there might initially be concerns, once we listen and look at ways to adapt to address those concerns, we find we can reach a place where most of the concerns can be addressed and where most stakeholders are comfortable.

Like I said, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. That's not to suggest that everyone is going to have the same view.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Klassen.

I will now give the floor to Mr. Deschênes for six minutes.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good morning, everyone.

Thanks to the witnesses for being here.

My first question is for you, Mr. DeMarco.

In 2019, quite solemnly, the federal government announced its intention to protect 25% of ocean waters by 2025. Was there anything binding in that commitment? When we read the Oceans Act, we do not see anything about that. Is that formal statement binding in any way?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

In exhibit 1 of our report, we can see the progress made on the Government of Canada's commitments. First, the government has committed to a target of 10% by 2020. Then it committed to 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. The 2025 target was announced in the federal budget. It was a progression toward the Aichi targets.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

My question is whether that objective was binding. Is there a legal penalty for non-compliance? Is the objective set out in legislation to force the government to achieve it?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

It is a target set by the government, but it is not enshrined in the Oceans Act or any other legislation.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Okay.

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

Even the 30% target is not set out in legislation.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Thank you for your work. We can see that you have really taken the time to provide us with information that we would not have had without you.

We can also see that we are a long way off. We are at 15.5%, and we need to be at 25% by December. Your report says that your data is from March 2025. We can see that the government is making some efforts. It is moving at a snail's pace, but it is moving forward.

Is the picture today, in November 2025, different from what it was in March 2025?

[Jerry V. DeMarco]

That is a question for the government departments. We had a limited amount of time to complete our audit, and we used the most recent figures available at that time. Has there been any progress since then? I do not know. Maybe the department officials know.

[Kathy Graham]

So far, there have been no changes in the data at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.