Fisheries Committee on March 25th, 2026

[David Courtemanche]

The form it would take would depend on a number of factors. I feel that we have local resources all through the region. We have been talking about Chaleur Bay, but there are shellfish sites all over Gaspésie. Yes, we can provide the technical service. To reduce the sampling costs, we could also look at alternative approaches, with the approval of Environment and Climate Change Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. We could do that.

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

Ms. Lambert Koizumi, how do you see that? If there was a will to open more sites, what work could be done with your association?

[Catherine Lambert Koizumi]

We at the AGHAMW have wardens in each community. We could easily take samples year-round, several times per season. We could do it 15 times over an 18‑month period, as required. I see no problem there. We could start with the shellfish beds close to communities because the priority is those that are currently closed but have been used traditionally. We can do that all over the region. We would certainly support that. We have been talking about reopening shellfish beds for a number of years. This is a really important issue for us.

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

Who might participate in that? How do you see it happening? Would the first nations provide volunteers?

[Catherine Lambert Koizumi]

It wouldn't have to be volunteers. I believe that, within reason, money would have to be allocated to pay people to go and collect samples. I feel that it's important to ensure consistency and quality of collection. Perhaps some programs already exist. It's important to find a way to make it all happen. I don't think it has to be volunteers. Ideally, there would be money to pay people. If it has to be volunteers, we could perhaps find them.

But I would prefer to work with our communities, our coastal communities, in collecting samples. Most costs are to do with the testing. It's certainly a large area, so there are travel costs, of course.

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

It could be a very creative project, with all the communities along the coast working together.

[Catherine Lambert Koizumi]

Exactly.

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

Mr. Courtemanche, what would the costs be? Certainly, groups can be worked with, but, generally speaking, how much would it cost to open a new shellfish location? We know that tests have to be done over a year and a half, as we have been discussing. Approximately what does that cost?

[David Courtemanche]

I'll let Ms. Fortin say more about the costs. However, it's expensive to work on just one site. If there were more shellfish sites to open at the same time, we would sample them all in one trip. It is certainly possible to reduce the per-site or per-area costs.

[Marie-Gil Fortin]

The costs for sampling involve one Zodiac trip to cover all the points in one area. That's about $5,000 per trip. Of course, if you can do three sites in the same day, it's much less than, say, travelling to Carleton-sur-Mer to do one site only and come back the next day. To properly document a site, say needing 15 trips, you are talking about $75,000. If you do three sites a day, it's $6,000 instead of $5,000. It's really an advantage if you can sample more sites together on the same day.

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

I have a question for you, Mr. Figueroa. The others can answer too.

Ms. Lambert Koizumi, did you want to add anything about the costs?

[Catherine Lambert Koizumi]

I just wanted to say that we could work with communities that are really close without having to use volunteers. AGHAMW also has a Zodiac. I think there are ways to get out there that would cost less than the figures that have been mentioned.

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

Let's talk about the number of sites that would have to be opened if we left Gaspésie and went south. Mr. Figueroa, you have talked to a lot of fishers. Do you have an idea of what would meet people's expectations and finally allow the tradition to continue and the resource to be more readily accessed? How many sites would we need to open?

[Esteban Figueroa]

We would have to analyze that, of course. But I would like to follow up on what my colleagues said a few minutes ago.

It's possible to do what social scientists call participatory action research. To reduce the costs, the sampling could be done by people living there. Right now, a community group in Gaspésie is being formed to provide access to the resources to people along the shoreline. So the will is there. In terms of reducing the costs of sampling, I certainly agree that it is possible.

It is also possible to do interdisciplinary projects, with social scientists and historians, for example. It's very important to gather local knowledge, from first nations communities, of course, but also from fishers who have been doing this for 40 or 50 years. They are the ones who will also be guiding the scientists collecting the samples. It's important to keep that in mind too.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Deschênes.

That completes our second panel.

I want to thank all the witnesses for being here in person or by video conference. Testimonies can be very helpful as we finalize our report and recommendations to government.

I will flag that our next meeting is on Monday, April 13, when we're going to review the Fisheries Act study. If you have any recommendations, please send them in advance so we can go through it more quickly.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.