Fisheries committee  Thank you. That's a very good question. I think the first one you've already kind of identified, and that's fleet renewal and getting the fleet and the broad fleet. We're going to have more icebreakers than we currently have. We're going to have more ships than we currently have

Fisheries committee  The question is a very good one. Fishermen want to get out in advance of the right whales and then hopefully be able to get back in before the right whales arrive so they don't get entangled in the fishing gear. Part of this is dependent very much on weather and the climate, so

Fisheries committee  Again, it's very difficult to speculate with regard to how to answer your question. In the end, I can say that we look at every avenue we can to help get the fishermen out and get the harbour breakouts done. We all know that climate change and the ice are cyclical. We've had two

Fisheries committee  It's a very good question. If the marine communication traffic services centres are linked in with the DFO science.... It's again something, Chair, that I will have to get back to this committee on with regard to whether or not they are engaged in sharing that kind of informatio

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That's my area of responsibility: to deliver the ships and the programs, including the third party agreements. Those agreements are in order right now. They are getting finalized and negotiated at the regional levels. They will be in place in time

Fisheries committee  It is an actuality. Our vessels are 24-7. Some of our vessels are out 28 days straight. They come back, change crew and go right back out again.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. There aren't just vessels that, for instance, have been disabled. Others have vessel life extensions. Others have planned maintenance. Vessels have to have planned maintenance. We do that every year on every single vessel. There is a period of time during the year to

Fisheries committee  The relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard is a very long-standing one. There is a summit that happens every year between Canada and the U.S., with the commandant and the commissioner. There is engagement at all levels, including operational levels such as search and rescue and e

Fisheries committee  You know, I don't think it's as high as people think with regard to dark vessels in this area. It doesn't mean that it doesn't happen, but those are really for nefarious things they are going to do. I suspect that if we have vessels that are transiting from a trade perspective, f

Fisheries committee  There is a level of service that we have for icebreaking. We meet with industry to identify the levels of service and also to prioritize and understand the prioritization of icebreaking services. The first priority is that any sort of distress or emergency situation takes preced

Fisheries committee  It's been a long two and a half years with COVID. I'll be very honest with you. If we look at, for instance, all of the icebreakers in the Arctic this season, we were able to man them all. Right now, we have sufficient crew to man our vessels on the east, west or anything that

Fisheries committee  If a call comes out, first of all we will be issuing a navigational warning to mariners to say there is a whale in distress, and hopefully tracking that whale and updating that notification to mariners as we move forward. The Department of Fisheries, of course, gets very involved

Fisheries committee  You know, that's a really good question. There is ghost gear. We're seeing it, but I don't know whether or not there's any more or any less than what we'd normally see. Unfortunately, that ghost gear also gets caught up in some of our gear and some of our propellers. These are th

Fisheries committee  Yes, absolutely. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans works on tracking these whales. It's their area of expertise. They track the whales. They identify when there is a whale that is in danger or entangled, for instance. It's the Department of Fisheries, then, that tracks tha

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. I think the Department of Fisheries and my fisheries colleagues would very much like any information with regard to where whales are or, for instance, where they are going to. First of all, it's difficult to monitor any sort of mammal. Any sort of assistance that the