44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 30, 2022 11:00AM
- May/30/22 9:51:36 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, that brought me back to a time when I was in opposition, in the opposition lobby, visiting with some representatives from an oceans conservation organization who told me about ghost gear. It was the first time I had heard about it and the idea that this fishing gear is trapping and killing fish and even whales endlessly, because it was abandoned in the ocean.
I am so pleased to say that our government is taking action on that. The member did a great job of laying out how important that is. We have a ghost gear program. The results of this program have been very impressive so far. Approved projects are funded based on activities under four pillars: abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear; responsible disposal, like the one he saw and I have seen at Steveston Harbour; acquiring and piloting innovative technologies to do these things; and international leadership.
This will be available for a wide range of individuals, companies, businesses, not-for-profits, indigenous organizations, research institutions and other levels of government. I really encourage interested parties to apply. The applications are due by June 6 this year at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.
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- May/30/22 9:54:51 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I thank the member again for his interest in this program. Since its inception, the ghost gear fund has supported retrieval efforts by third party partners, resulting in more than 1,296 tonnes of ghost gear being removed from Canada's oceans, as well as collecting over 153 kilometres of rope. This represents more than 7,000 units of gear removed from our oceans over the past two years, reducing the threat of entrapment and ghost fishing, as well as reducing the threat of entanglement to marine mammals, including the endangered North Atlantic right whales.
These efforts have been undertaken by dedicated and committed industry leaders, such as the Petty Harbour fishermen's association, which removed five tonnes of gear from Newfoundland waters. CSR GeoSurveys used sidescan sonar technology to identify lost gear hot spots and retrieve 14 tonnes of gear in the Gulf and Maritimes regions. On the west coast, the Coastal Restoration Society worked with indigenous partners to perform large-scale ghost gear removals on the west coast of Vancouver Island, removing over 286 tonnes of gear from abandoned aquaculture sites.
The ghost gear fund is helping us clean up our oceans, leading to some amazing innovation in the sector. As a former digital government minister, I love the digital solutions that are being used here. I think we can all agree in this House that this has been a huge success and will continue to be so.
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- May/30/22 11:15:15 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, it is an honour to rise today to speak and ask questions about issues that are top of mind for the coastal communities in my riding and the amazing marine life that inhabits the area as well.
Canada's oceans are home to 47 distinct populations of whales. Whales are a vital component of marine ecosystems, both for the recirculation of marine nutrients and as a bellwether for the health of marine ecosystems as a whole. They feature centrally in the cultures of many indigenous peoples and serve an important role in coastal communities through their iconic status and tourist appeal.
Many Canadian whale species face threats directly attributable to human activity, with 19 Canadian populations or species now listed under the Species at Risk Act, of which eight are assessed as endangered. Whale species in Canada, particularly those listed under the Species at Risk Act, face a complex and interrelated mix of threats from human activities that affect their survival and recovery. These threats include entanglement in fishing gear, disturbance from interaction with vessels, increased contaminants and decreased prey availability. Threats are becoming even more acute as a result of climate change and its impact on ocean ecosystems and whale distribution, and are likely to grow as globalization drives an increase in international marine activities.
Endangered whale species and their prey are being pushed into new habitats, which exposes them to vessel traffic in ecologically sensitive environments. For example, ocean warming has reduced the quality and abundance of the preferred prey in traditional North Atlantic whale habitat areas in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine, creating a less favourable foraging environment. As a result, North Atlantic right whales shifted their late spring and summer foraging grounds to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they face greater risk of vessel strike and entanglement in fishing gear. Warmer oceans have also contributed to reduced salmon spawning, resulting in fewer chinook salmon off the coast of British Columbia, which is the preferred prey of the southern resident killer whale. In the St. Lawrence estuary, belugas face environmental and noise-based threats in their critical habitat from marine transports and other activities.
Over the past several years, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Transport Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Parks Canada have worked together to make targeted investments to address immediate threats facing critically endangered whale species, including $167.4 million under the whales initiative announced in budget 2018. The whales initiative was the first targeted national whale fund to protect key species, and it was further supported by $61.5 million, announced later in 2018, specifically for southern resident killer whales, and additional funds found in the oceans protection plan and nature legacy initiatives.
These investments have started a shift in the way fisheries operate, with a focus on innovative tools that protect species such as the North Atlantic right whale, while also demonstrating the role of fisheries in a blue economy and Canada's leadership in sustainable seafood. The North Atlantic right whale is listed as endangered under Canada's Species At Risk Act.
Fishing gear entanglement prevention is a priority for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. We have implemented changes to the seasonal open and close dates of fisheries to avoid interactions, and a combination of temporary and season-long fishing area closures designed to ensure that gear, including lobster and snow crab gear, is removed from the water based on right whale presence. These measures are supported by a robust monitoring regime to detect the presence of whales, including flights, vessels and acoustic monitoring. Since 2020, there have been no reported North Atlantic right whale mortalities and only one new entanglement found in Canadian waters.
To further reduce the risk of entanglement, the department is working with the fishing industry and partners in Atlantic Canada and Quebec to develop whale-safe fishing gear innovations, such as systems that fish without vertical lines to prevent whales from becoming entangled in the gear, as well as other innovations that incorporate low-breaking-strength links that are designed to fish under normal conditions and yet break if a whale should become entangled.
Trials of such gear have been under way over the past few years, and the department's whale-safe gear adoption fund is providing $20 million in support to nearly three dozen projects this year. By supporting fishing industry expertise and leadership from entrepreneurs, we are finding ways to solve the entanglement problem and allow commercial fishing activities to coexist with whales in their habitat.
With respect to the iconic southern resident killer whales, the government has taken significant steps to address key threats to the population. The southern resident killer whale is considered to be at risk because of its small population size, low reproductive rate and the existence of a variety of anthropogenic threats that have the potential to prevent recovery or to further cause declines.
Principle among these anthropogenic threats are reductions in the availability of prey, with chinook salmon being the main prey item; both physical and acoustic disturbances; and environmental contamination. Actions on many of these recovery measures identified in the resident killer whale recovery strategy are under way. I have actually had a chance to see some of the science and the work being done at the Pacific Science Enterprise Centre. On April 29 of this year, the Government of Canada announced enhanced measures for 2022, for the fourth year in a row, to stop the decline of the species through management measures to the protection of salmon and minimization of disturbances from vessels.
Regarding the St. Lawrence Estuary beluga, research efforts have advanced the government's understanding of threats to this population, leading to additional protection measures such as habitat closure, slow-down zones for vessel traffic and restrictions on approach distances for this important population. Key investments to date in research, monitoring and data collection continue to enhance the Government of Canada's understanding of the north Atlantic right whale, southern resident killer whale and St. Lawrence Estuary beluga distribution, their foraging habitats and prey availability.
Our government also continues to build the marine mammal response program, which aims to assist marine mammals and sea turtles in distress. In collaboration with conservation groups and non-governmental organizations, the department supports marine mammal incident response networks in all regions under the umbrella of the marine mammal response program. We have made substantial investments in our marine mammal response program over the past several years to support a safe and timely response to marine mammals in distress, such as entangled whales, and to conduct a necropsy.
Our investments in the marine mammal response program include $4.5 million in contributions to build capacity for safe and effective marine mammal response across Canada. In a given year, there can be close to 1,600 reported incidents involving over 2,000 animals, and many of these incidents involve species at risk.
Fisheries management will continue to evolve and adapt to protect and conserve whale and marine mammal populations. At present, some of the measures we have in place also provide benefits to other species in the same area. For example, area closures to fisheries to protect right whales also protect other whale species.
Our world-class adaptive management measures, which incorporate the best available science, are developed through close collaboration between our department, the fishing industry, indigenous communities and leading scientists to protect and rebuild endangered whale populations while upholding Canada's reputation for sustainably sourced seafood.
I have mentioned that whales are an integral part of our marine ecosystems. I know that the well-being of the endangered southern resident killer whale population is a great concern to Canadians and its protection, and that our government has taken concrete action to protect this iconic species. Can the minister please speak to some of these measures that we have adopted to monitor the movements of southern resident killer whales?
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- May/30/22 11:23:28 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I really appreciate the member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country's deep interest in the health and abundance of the Salish Sea, the plight of wild Pacific salmon and the southern resident killer whales, which are, of course, an iconic part of our ecosystem.
We have certainly taken significant steps to address threats to the population through the ocean protection plan and the whales initiative, as the member spoke about. For the fourth year in a row, our government has implemented enhanced measures to stop the decline of the species. There has been a great deal of work done with indigenous groups and stakeholders to inform the development and enhancement of protection measures.
I mean, we would love to see the numbers of these creatures grow, but they are not. The numbers of the southern resident killer whale are slightly down. To build on past efforts, I had an unfortunate opportunity, in a way, as there were new fishery closures for the recreational fishery that needed to be put into place to protect key foraging areas of the southern resident killer whales. With continued measures under the ocean protection plan, I am optimistic that we can stop the decline and start to see a return of higher numbers of these whales.
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- May/30/22 11:25:26 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, we recognize that protecting and sustaining aquatic species at risk is critically important to ecosystem health and thriving fisheries. I am hopeful that our efforts over the past few years to protect the endangered southern resident killer whales from fishing gear entanglements and collisions with vessels will help the population grow and rebuild.
It is clear that sensible protection measures are necessary and that we must work in collaboration with other governmental departments, industry, NGOs, academia, indigenous communities and our U.S. counterparts to ensure that these whales have the best possible chance to recover.
Could the minister please explain what measures are in effect this year?
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- May/30/22 11:26:06 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, there is a great range of measures. Not that many years ago, pleasure craft could come right up to observe killer whales in their habitat as they were foraging, feeding or just conducting their daily life activities. That was very interruptive of their feeding. We have increased the measures to keep pleasure craft and whale-watching craft a distance from the southern resident killer whales. There has been a slowdown of vessels when whales are detected in an area. There is surveillance happening so that we know when there is a pod coming through.
There is also hatchery chinook production that is intended to provide more food, because chinook are the key food for the species. The southern resident killer whales face many challenges, and they are not all of human origin. The transient killer whales from the north that overlap in habitat with the southern resident killer whales are becoming successful in taking over the northern part of the southern resident killer whale range.
We are also working with scientists from California, Oregon and Washington, through the international killer whale collective, to get the best possible understanding of the measures that we need to take, which we will continue taking to do our very best to protect these whales.
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- May/30/22 11:57:10 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am moving on to southern resident killer whales. By the way, one of my constituents whom the minister will also know, the Hon. Pat Carney, has said for many years that we do not have an oceans protection plan but an oceans protection wish list. I would like to see an oceans protection plan and not just a pile of money and a list of things to do.
In relation to southern resident killer whales in my riding, the interim sanctuary zones around Pender and Saturna have been there since 2019. Nobody has ever been charged and nobody has ever been ticketed. There have been numerous violations. The local volunteers and whale-sighting groups have now established that whales are present year-round, yet this seasonal so-called sanctuary zone is only operating June 1 to November 30.
Is the minister willing to look at the new science and recognize that whales are present year-round?
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- May/30/22 11:58:02 p.m.
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Mr. Chair, I am always willing to look at new science. I am always willing to adjust our measures to reflect what we have learned, and the southern resident killer whales are a key species for us to protect. There is a review every year, and we will take a look at the enforcement concerns that the member is raising.
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