Evidence of meeting #16 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was commercial.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Clifford Small Conservative Central Newfoundland, NL
Do you find it odd that DFO hasn't laid a charge yet regarding the dumping of those lobsters?
Conservative
Clifford Small Conservative Central Newfoundland, NL
How widespread is this lobster dumping along the shores of area 25?
Fisherman, As an Individual
I'm not quite sure. There were two or three different places, but they were all pretty close to one area, I'm quite sure. I'm not real sure where they were, but they were all pretty close together from what I was told.
Conservative
Clifford Small Conservative Central Newfoundland, NL
We were told by the Public Prosecution service of Canada that it considered the ethnicity of those who were committing infractions.
Are you disturbed by that?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Patrick Weiler
I'm afraid that completes the time here.
We're going to move to Mr. Cormier for six minutes.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Vacher, you said that you were a former fishery officer. Is that right?
Commercial Fisherman, As an Individual
I was in the Côte‑Nord region of Quebec.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
You said earlier that you were told not to arrest indigenous fishers for illegal fishing offences, for example. I have a simple question. Who gave you these instructions?
Commercial Fisherman, As an Individual
It was our supervisors. They told us that this wasn't recommended because there had been Supreme Court rulings. They didn't want any more court cases. So they told us to ignore the issue because the indigenous fishery was starting up.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
When you talk about your supervisors, do you mean the supervisors in the region or the supervisors in Ottawa?
Commercial Fisherman, As an Individual
It was the immediate supervisors, meaning the supervisors in the region.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you. I'll come back to this matter later, Mr. Vacher. First I have some questions for other witnesses.
Mr. Hébert and Mr. Noël, thank you for joining us today. You touched on a number of points. I know that the fisheries are familiar to most of my colleagues around the table. However, I want to ask you a question so that everyone understands one thing.
The total allowable snow crab catch can be 20,000 tonnes, 30,000 tonnes or 40,000 tonnes. During the fishing season, are all snow crab landings weighed at dockside?
Director general, Association des crabiers acadiens
Most of them are, barring any illegal landings.
Liberal
Director general, Association des crabiers acadiens
Everything is weighed at dockside.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
However, lobster landings aren't weighed at dockside. Is that right?
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
In your industry, when fishers arrive at the dock with their cargo to unload their boat, what happens? Who keeps track of data on crab landings? How does this work?
Director general, Association des crabiers acadiens
First, the fishers must call one to three hours before arriving at the dock. When they arrive at the dock, a witness may stay on board while a dockside landing company takes the cargo from the hold and brings it to the surface for weighing, one landing at a time, until everything is weighed.
Liberal
Serge Cormier Liberal Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Noël, if you want to bring back crab for yourself or to sell to others, can you do so?
Réjean Noël President, Association des crabiers acadiens
No. Harvested crabs must be weighed by the company unloading them. We are not allowed to remove a single claw before unloading begins. At the end of unloading, the boat must be inspected to ensure that no crab claws are left behind and no crabs are hidden in the boat.