Mr. Speaker, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, DFO, has now begun a more in-depth and phased engagement about West Coast commercial fisheries modernization, WCCFM.
Both the study on foreign ownership and corporate concentration by the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, FOPO, as well as the government response to the committee’s recommendations have been discussed with some stakeholders during regularly scheduled meetings with senior DFO officials since FOPO’s study concluded. The department looks forward to now expanding these conversations with a wider range of first nations and industry stakeholders as part of the WCCFM engagement.
Given that the more comprehensive engagement on WCCFM has just begun, DFO cannot at this time report out on dates, participant groups or recommendations heard from engagement on WCCFM. DFO officials are reaching out to groups over the summer and into early fall to discuss engagement and topics of focus.
DFO Pacific region has one full-time coordinator position at the CO-02 level within the regional fisheries management team dedicated to key topics within the scope of WCCFM. There is also a lead manager and director in each of the Pacific region fisheries management branch and the national headquarters fisheries policy team tasked with leadership on this initiative, as well as numerous subject matter experts and administrative staff supporting specific elements of the work. Additional regional and national staff will become involved as the phased WCCFM engagement proceeds. DFO has set aside necessary non-salary resources to support engagement through facilitated workshops on the key WCCFM topics.