Fisheries Committee on Oct. 9th, 2025

[Chris d'Entremont, Conservative, Acadie—Annapolis, NS]

I see we're almost there.

Can I ask for as much information as possible?

The problem that we're running into in the southwest is that there's a lack of information dissemination. A regular fisher on a boat is not hearing what the fisheries department is saying or what it is doing, so of course, there's a lot of disinformation that floats around, and we spend a lot of time trying to debunk disinformation about what's going on.

All I ask is that we take this issue seriously because it is important for the economy of southwest Nova Scotia and for the lives of families from one end of my riding to the other.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

I agree with you and certainly will follow up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. d'Entremont.

Next we'll go to Monsieur Cormier.

Mr. Cormier, you have the floor for five and a half minutes.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Madam Minister, welcome.

Thank you again for visiting my region this summer with your deputy minister and some of your staff. It was greatly appreciated by both residents and members of associations, as well as by the municipal officials we met. As you know, we often meet with members of fishing associations. Fishing also supports many businesses in our regions.

I would like to talk a little about small craft harbours and the Quebec fisheries fund. There is something that bothers me a little. Perhaps it is because my colleague from the Bloc Québécois is new here. Earlier, he talked about investments in the Quebec fisheries fund. He travelled around his riding this summer and saw the investments made in small craft harbours. He owes that to the former minister of fisheries, who made significant investments in his region.

When he asks questions about the fisheries fund, it makes me smile. He should not be addressing the Minister of Fisheries, but rather his own leader if he wants funds to be included in this budget. On top of that, his leader probably won’t even support the new budget.

At the end of the day, we have made substantial investments in harbours and fisheries, and I think we will continue to do so.

Madam Minister, I will address the issue of small craft harbours. We have discussed this, you and I, and we have also discussed it with your deputy minister.

We can say that the fishing industry generates billions of dollars in landings and exports, but if the necessary infrastructure is not in place at the right time, when we need it, we will not be able to obtain the expected returns on our investments.

Would it be possible to speed up the work on these ports?

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

I appreciate the question.

I know, from my own riding and certainly from being a Newfoundlander and Labradorian, how important small craft harbours are. They are often the lifeblood of rural communities. Sustaining those harbours—the infrastructure—in a manner that is able to ensure that they can withstand the effects of climate change, the changes that we're seeing in sea surges and tides, is incredibly important.

Part of my focus in the work that I am undertaking with the department is a review of the processes around timing. I've seen this as well, so we are doing that work.

If any of the members here have requests on small craft harbours, I certainly encourage you to please put your priorities on paper and send them to us.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

That's perfect. Thank you for that.

Minister, some colleagues around the table were talking about more science, more data and making decisions based on science and data. I want to talk about the striped bass a little bit.

First of all, thank you for the decision you made earlier this year that gaspereau fishers can retain more striped bass in their nets. I think everybody around this table will agree that striped bass are a problem. They're a problem for salmon, they're a problem for lobster and they're a problem for many other species they eat.

What frustrated me, Minister, is that, in the last couple of years, we've had a lot of scientists here at our committee, and we've also had some officials and, back the day, some those people were saying that striped bass are not eating salmon or lobster. I can guarantee you that, back then, I was questioning whether it was true or not. We were seeing photos on social media, for example, of striped bass that had lobster in them when they were gutted. I was questioning if it was true or false, but I've seen with my own eyes the past two summers that it's real. I have a photo here of my brother on a Restigouche fishing trip this summer. This is probably 45 kilometres up the river. We caught three striped bass in one morning. They're in our rivers; they're everywhere. They're badly hurting some of the other resources that fishers depend on.

Thank you for that decision. Can we push it a little bit further? The responsibility of DFO, of course, is protecting and managing resources, but when a species is above what it's supposed to be, don't we have a responsibility to make sure it doesn't hurt other species, Minister?

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

I heard this loud and clear this summer and, obviously, fish health depends on the broader ecosystem. Yes, I've heard that.

I'm going to turn to the deputy for any additional comments, but I understand what you're saying.

[Annette Gibbons]

The department has tried to be responsive, as you know. This is still in the critical zone—the signs still say it's in the critical zone—but we've provided these fishing opportunities by increasing recreational fishing and increasing first nations communal commercial fishing, and we've done the bycatch retention pilots in lobster fisheries and the gaspereau bycatch retention. We've been trying to do these different things. Every season, there's new information, and we look to see what we can do. I think we'll continue to pay attention to that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Cormier. I'm afraid that wraps up your time and completes the second round.

I want to exercise the chair's discretion to ask one question before we wrap up here.

I want to pick up on something that Mr. Arnold brought up before.

Minister, we've been hearing reports of abundant salmon runs across the province of B.C. I was hoping you could speak to those numbers and explain what this will mean for communities across the province.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

We have five minutes remaining, so we can start the next round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

I'm exercising my chair's discretion to ask one question here. We have less than four minutes left. I gave the Conservatives some extra time in the last round, and there will be time with the officials afterwards to ask questions for another hour.

Minister, can you speak to these numbers? Further, can you explain what this will mean for communities across the province, the health of our ecosystems and particularly those who fish recreationally?

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you. It's an important question. As I indicated earlier, I'm going to be in B.C. next week because I want to meet with harvesters, fishers and all stakeholders involved. I have already heard clearly of the concern. Certainly, I know that salmon is a species of concern, and it is so important to so many in British Columbia.

In terms of the specifics, I'm going to turn to the deputy for updates on numbers.

[Annette Gibbons]

I don't have the numbers, but I'm happy to provide them.

As a general comment, though, on the Fraser sockeye, it's great to see a significant increase in abundance. We were able to provide more fishing opportunities for first nations food, social, ceremonial and recreational fishing.

The constraint on further fishing opportunities was really around the stocks that migrate with the Fraser sockeye salmon. They're a salmon species of concern in particular, and, in allowing higher fishing opportunities, we would have endangered those stocks. That is a key thing that kicks in, which is really unfortunate, but it means that, to conserve those other stocks, we have to limit the opportunities on a stock that is otherwise abundant.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you.

I do want to emphasize what Mr. Arnold mentioned before, that this has been a hard number of years for recreational fishers without the access to retention that sustains a lot of businesses and communities. The hope is that with these types of numbers, there will be those opportunities in due course, keeping in mind that we do need to make sure that we have sustainable fisheries and we meet our conservation objectives.

Mr. Arnold, please go ahead.

[Mel Arnold, Conservative, Kamloops—Shuswap—Central Rockies, BC]

I see by the clock that we have a couple of minutes left. We also had technical difficulties. They still have not been able to get the translation to work on this device.

I'd like the balance of the time that should have been there provided to Mr. Gunn, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Given that we don't have enough time to do a round, why don't we do one question from each party before we wrap here? Then we'll move into questions from the officials.

With that, I will give one question to Mr. Gunn.

Afterwards, I will give the Liberals and Mr. Deschênes, respectively, an opportunity to ask a question.

Mr. Gunn, please go ahead.

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have two questions for you, but I'll presuppose your answer to the first one. The department is committed to reconciliation with indigenous Canadians: That's a yes, I'm assuming.

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Yes.

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Why, then, are you forcing salmon farms and the associated jobs out of the traditional territories of first nations that support them?

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

This summer, ISED led...but we did over 110 engagements on the sector. The report is sitting with ISED. I can tell you that I am looking forward to reading it. We'll make decisions from there.

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Has that decision not been made yet, then?

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Patrick Weiler]

Thank you very much, Mr. Gunn.

I now want to give an opportunity to one member of the Liberal Party here.

Mr. Cormier, you can ask one question.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Minister, we talked about striped bass, but I think you know that seals are also a big concern to a lot of fishers in our area. What is the status on that?

[Joanne Thompson, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

Regrettably, markets are still not strong. I'm a Newfoundlander. I well know the overabundance of seals. I really welcome input from all engaged on how we can move forward. It is a problem, but our markets are still weak for the product.