Fisheries committee  Thank you. Thank you to the committee members for the opportunity to appear today. I'm here today as president of the Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters' Federation. The federation represents more than 14,000 licensed small business owners, with 30,000-plus crew members, work

Fisheries committee  Fishing has always been hard work in a challenging environment, and harvesters did not always earn good incomes. But over many years, harvester organizations have worked diligently to conserve and protect our fish stocks, to improve safety practices and to put in place a co-manag

Fisheries committee  We had this conversation a couple of weeks ago with the minister. The reports on the ground would indicate that there are somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 truly independents, but it's really difficult to know, given the landscape in British Columbia. Of course, on the east c

Fisheries committee  Sorry, I didn't catch the last part.

Fisheries committee  Well, there are always challenges when you're a small business owner. There's no doubt of that. However, for it to work effectively and for us to maintain control over the resource.... I've had many fishermen—and I use that word because it's respectful of our industry—tell me t

Fisheries committee  Well, being a small business owner, Mr. Arnold, there are a million challenges. Obviously—well, maybe not obviously—I'm not a harvester; I'm a “fishercrat”, for lack of a better word. I can tell you that when I go down to the wharf—and I work on the end of a wharf—there are cha

Fisheries committee  I think it's far from me to make a prescriptive suggestion, but I would say this. I think the people who are invited to the table are going to be critical to the discussion and the success of how it goes forward. Currently, under the advisory systems there today, I'm told by the

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the committee for having us appear today. The Canadian Independent Fish Harvester's Federation is the national advocacy voice for over 12,000 fish harvesters and owner-operators that land most of Canada's seafood. We are the people who prod

Finance committee  There's been a little bit of discussion. It's an in between.

Finance committee  No.

Finance committee  I'll start it. This is a concern. We've heard Mr. Irvine from the Lobster Council talk about it. It's to have that kind of reserve.... To have stranded lobster, for example, with no place to go will be very difficult for the industry. That's why some of the suggestions we've

Fisheries committee  Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the committee for inviting the federation to appear today. The Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters Federation is the national advocacy voice for the over 12,000 independent harvesters who land most of Canada's se

Fisheries committee  Thanks for the question. Clearly, the marketing issue is one. As the federation started into COVID, we did a short-, medium- and long-term view of what we thought, if our crystal ball was in its best form, we would need to address. One of the things we did talk about is market

Fisheries committee  I am, Mr. Bragdon. The Lobster Council of Canada is one example. It has been working on a program that's domestically centred. They've done a couple of different things through social media and they're starting to ramp up their efforts. That's one thing. Certainly, there are a l

Fisheries committee  Certainly, the federation has brought this up time and time again, and we will continue to do that. As I said in the beginning days, it's been about eight packages. We will be looking to government for more focused reactions to this and more help. Going forward, you'll hear more