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Fisheries committee  Thank you very much. My name is Emily. I am the lead representative of the Prawn Industry Caucus. I'm also the business agent for the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union, a director for the commercial fishing caucus, and a member of the COVID-19 Active Fishermen's Committ

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Thank you. It was quite a shock to hear about it. I heard about it more as a rumour. It was unconfirmed what DFO's position or intention was until we were able to work towards a meeting. Once I heard that it was in fact true that DFO was looking to interpret the regulations, I

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Thank you. It may be helpful also to note that C and P does provide, in the post-season review meeting, a report to the prawn advisory board numbering how many violations they've found in the season. For 2020, there was no reference to retention of undersized prawns. In 2019,

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Thank you. We did speak with DFO on this. We have been requesting meetings and speaking with Neil Davis and discussing the issue. We did write a letter to the minister as well to request assistance in bringing resolution and some logic to this issue. What we've been told is th

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Thank you. I'm not sure we've been given an explanation for why now. You're quite right; the practice of tubbing has gone on for 50 years. I speak quite frequently with the retired DFO prawn manager, Mr. Jim Morrison. He relayed to me that when the minimum size regulation was b

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Harvesters are very upset at the idea that this may impose on their ability to sell prawns this year. Without much clarity from DFO, you can imagine the frustration level. Some harvesters have community-supported fisheries where they pre-sell portions of their catch, and were w

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Thank you. Prawns in B.C., dare I say, are becoming almost like what lobster is to the east coast. There's a tremendous growing and existing fan base for access to our local sustainable catch of prawns. Restaurants are proud to feature them. They're celebrated as sustainable bot

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  It is really important to note that spawner indexing takes place aboard the vessels quite frequently throughout the season. The number of samples obtained from vessels typically means that each vessel may be boarded several times during the season. Some report being boarded even

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  I'm sure the processors would process that product for the harvester and take on that section of the supply chain. However, the processor is going to charge the harvester for the processing, or the harvester is simply going to get a wholesale price for those prawns, the same as t

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  I think what we would ultimately like is a reinterpretation so that we can go back to business as usual and focus on things that are more justified to earn our attention and our efforts.... This, to everybody, seems actually quite irrational—that DFO would make prawn tubbing ille

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Thank you. As the group of witnesses has said, there was no consultation prior to this reinterpretation. Typically what we would see is a report or proposal to the prawn advisory board. The prawn advisory board met on December 3. There was no report of this impending reinterpre

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  I think we've done that quite quickly in response to this reinterpretation. As Mike Atkins said, the PPFA developed protocols to offer a solution by supporting C and P and upholding the regulations. The PIC offered a proposal of a new condition of licence. We worked very quickly

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Yes. There was an acknowledgement of our letter and that this was being worked on. The statement from the minister's office about it being a conservation issue and that the practice of tubbing was quite new was relayed to the House, I believe, when MP Rachel Blaney spoke to it.

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Sure. It is our hope that the processing companies are maintaining the highest level of quality possible in terms of any processing that's done. It's certainly in their best interests to do so. In terms of price, I cannot give any recent examples in terms of differentiation bet

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. Last year in Powell River, some local harvesters set up pop-up sales throughout the season. In some cases, by the afternoon they would have over 300 people lining up from the small town. Almost every time they did that, that's the lineup they had. They had people chee

May 3rd, 2021Committee meeting

Emily Orr