Fisheries committee  I don't think they're difficult to enforce. It depends where they are, and it will be different in different areas. I know that's a facile answer, but it's actually the case. There are overflights. There's satellite. There's VMS, the vessel monitoring system. There are also partnerships.

Fisheries committee  Minimum protection standards have been discussed for 20 years. When we were here last time we talked about the various tools. We have the Canada National Marine Conservation Areas Act, which establishes national marine conservation areas. It's done by Parks Canada. There is a piece in it which says there can be no oil and gas extraction.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  When we were here last, the minister answered this. I think I spoke to it as well. Consultation is hugely important in this regard. These are important issues for local communities. The minister spoke to some of our engagement in the north—he spoke with respect to Nunavut—but I can speak to a couple of points and say a couple of things.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. I'd make a couple of comments. Probably the main objective of the key piece in Bill C-55 is around interim protection. We were finding with the MPA process that it was taking too long, but we do need to take the time to engage local stakeholders. We need to take the time to ensure that fisheries groups, local community groups, and so on, are involved.

Fisheries committee  The main objective of this is to enable us to move faster. We think the MPA, the marine protected area established under the Oceans Act is an important tool, but what we were finding is that it took too long. It took five to seven years to establish an MPA. A number of groups said, “This is important; you've identified there's a coral and sponge that need to be protected, and then seven years later you protect them.”

Fisheries committee  I don't think it's addressed under this particular initiative. We have other initiatives through which we address it. You're correct that it is a very complex ecosystem, but there are millions of harp seals, and there are hundreds of thousands of grey seals. There is science that indicated back in 2010 that it's a significant factor in cod recovery in the southern gulf.

Fisheries committee  That's correct.

Fisheries committee  It's a big question. Bill C-55 and the amendments proposed to the Oceans Act in particular are part of a set of initiatives. The cod issue, back in the early 1990s, was a siren call for many. We have adjusted how we manage effectively. The Oceans Act actually came five years after the closure of the cod fishery in the early 1990s.

Fisheries committee  The minister spoke to the issue of minimum standards since it has become an issue as we've moved forward with a focus on the 5% target and then the 10% target. As we've done that, we've realized exactly what you've raised. It has been raised as well by environmental groups and others for the last 20 years that standards need to be in there.

Fisheries committee  It's still to be determined, but my sense is—and correct me if I am wrong here, Jeff and Philippe—that this is an advisory panel to advise the minister of what we should be doing on standards, what types of standards we should have in place, what types of approaches, who should be brought, what legal means, what policy means, etc., as well as what areas for standards.

Fisheries committee  I think it would look more broadly at standards. It may say, “This is what we think should happen with respect to no-take zones generally, and here's what the science advice says. Here's what we think the standards should be with respect to this or that type of extractive activity.

Fisheries committee  We have to do it through process. It is a challenge as the process is moving along. We have regular processes where we engage. We have our own protocols in terms of consultation, where we engage with indigenous groups, and we also engage with local fishers and local fishery groups.

Fisheries committee  That's partly why it takes, on average, seven years to complete a marine protected area. It is a hugely complex ecosystem. There are many activities that take place. We need to understand what it is that we are trying to protect and to have a good sense of whether it is corals and sponges, a sensitive spawning area, an important area for various species, and what the impacts are that could impact that and, therefore, what we need to protect.

Fisheries committee  MPAs can be established and MPAs can be changed. It's a regulatory process, but we've generally sought to identify areas that we believe are going to be important—corals and sponges and spawning areas—that we've known about for generations and that are going to be there for the long term.