Debates of May 30th, 2022

Department of Fisheries and Oceans—Main Estimates 2022-23

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, the minister's recent decision to reject the sport fishing advisory board's chinook salmon retention proposals is again a broken promise. Why is the minister refusing to work with our public fishery community to ensure science-based decisions are made?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, when I met with Owen Bird and his colleagues, I was very interested in their proposal. Unfortunately, it would mean opening an integrated fisheries management plan, which would have meant consultation broadly before I could do so.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, let me get this straight. You were actually given scientific advice that you could manage—

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

The hon. member for Kingston and the Islands.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. Chair, I recognize that you are just sitting in the chair as of now, but both this Conservative member and the previous Conservative member have used the term “you” numerous times, and the member just said it again.

Perhaps they need a time out to go back and rewrite their notes or something, because they keep reading the term and the phrase “you”. Perhaps you could stress to them that they are to speak through the Chair to you because I doubt that they are asking all of this of you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Chris d'Entremont]

I thank you for the intervention and I appreciate that.

I will remind folks here tonight to refer questions through the Chair and make sure that we do not address people directly.

The hon. member for Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, through the Chair, why did the minister reject the sport fishing advisory board's two very modest chinook salmon retention proposals for portions of PFMA 17, 18, 19, southeast Vancouver Island and 28, Howe Sound, for the months of April and May? Why?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, one primary reason is that to change an integrated fisheries management plan that has had many stakeholders involved, I would have needed to consult with all of them again, and there was not time to do that for opening in April and May.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, in a letter to the minister dated May 10, the Public Fishery Alliance stated, “We have never before experienced this level of Departmental inertia and unwillingness to resolve fundamentally basic fisheries management issues.” What is the minister doing to address this?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, I reject the premise of that question, actually. The department has used a very thoughtful approach in gathering information from many stakeholders to propose decisions to me.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, for years I have heard from our public fishery experts in British Columbia, who say their efforts to consult with DFO and provide reasonable solutions for the fishery are being stonewalled by Pacific regional director Rebecca Reid and senior staff.

Who ultimately makes the decisions for the Pacific region, the minister or Rebecca Reid?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, most fisheries management decisions come to me to make, and I make them as the minister.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, it seems as though the minister's staff are the ones who are running the show at DFO. At the same time that the minister told me personally that she was considering proposals, the DFO salmon team openly stated they would not discuss any proposals from the sport fishing advisory board related to chinook retention in April and May of 2022.

Again, who is in charge of DFO, the minister or Rebecca Reid?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, actually I have already explained that opening a fishery plan midstream means re-consulting with all of the stakeholders, and there simply was not time to do that in the time available to open it in April and May.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, with respect, that is exactly the minister's job. It is to manage the fishery, and she simply is not doing that.

In July 2020, the minister's predecessor, Minister Jordan, committed Canada to the United Kingdom's global ocean alliance agenda to zone 30% of Canada's coastal waters as “protected” by 2030. This is in addition to the existing government commitment to zone 25% of Canada's waters by 2025 and the extension into terrestrial public lands. The proponents of this European agenda advocate elimination of all extractive use of these regions, including recreational and commercial fishing.

What is the minister's plan to conduct a transparent science-based process that includes regional and national stakeholder interests before declaring vast areas of public waters off limits to public access?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, the marine protected areas prevent certain industrial activities that affect the seabed floor. Otherwise, there are no constraints that have already been defined in the negotiated MPAs that we are involved with.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, what specific actions is the minister's department taking right now to implement the Cohen commission recommendation number 30 for a mark selective fishery?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, we are considering a mark selective fishery. Part of the budget was to increase the supplies needed and the trailers needed for that fishery.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, for more than one and a half decades the public fishing community, especially in B.C. and especially in the lower Fraser, has been advocating selective sport fishing regulations that would allow recreational fishing that was selective for certain types of salmon while avoiding endangered salmon and sturgeon. The technique is known as bar rigs, which has been known to be highly selective. Under the federal Fisheries Act, the 1996 British Columbia sport fishing regulation 137 has amendments for such things as herring jigging and sturgeon gear, but it requires an amendment that would allow selective salmon fishing.

Will the minister work with the British Columbia sport fishing community to amend the British Columbia sport fishing regulations so that Canadians can enjoy this important family activity and support the key economic sport fishing sector, at the same time as protecting stocks of concern?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, the protection of stocks of concern are, of course, the number one priority, but my officials are developing a discussion paper on this matter and will be consulting with interested parties.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, we hear that mass marking trailers have been purchased and are currently in use in B.C., but only to apply coded wire tags, not doing their intended purpose.

Will the minister's department in 2023 begin the critical process of mass marking all hatchery chinook production that is designed to contribute to fisheries in southern B.C. in order to provide increased opportunity for mark selective fisheries and to assist hatchery managers in distinguishing between hatchery and wild chinook in brood stock selection?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, what we will do is prioritize the conservation of the wild Pacific salmon while making opportunities available to the sport fishery in such a way that it does not undermine the conservation of wild salmon.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, the minister has had ample opportunity to address this issue. The Cohen commission has been around for 10 years, yet the government is still planning to delay the process, putting many of our anglers at risk.

How many full-time equivalent positions are there at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans?

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Mr. Chair, there are close to 14,000 permanent positions.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Mr. Chair, for everybody out there, that was 14,000.

Total spending for Fisheries and Oceans Canada increased by 42.3% between 2016-17 and 2020-21, yet we have heard across the board that service levels are at all-time lows. Why?