44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 30, 2022 11:00AM
- May/30/22 8:58:13 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I cannot help but feel deeply concerned about the lack of vision and new commitments in this year's budget to protect the marine ecosystems and to support communities that rely on our fishing industry. We need real leadership and bold action, and I cannot see that in this year's budget.
I would like to use my time today to ask the minister questions. Wild Pacific salmon are a fundamental part of our ecosystems on the west coast. Wild salmon populations have declined by 70% over the last century in B.C. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have failed this vital species.
It has been over a year since the government announced its Pacific salmon strategy initiative. Beyond long-term fishing closures, the government has been silent about how it is helping the salmon populations. Wild Pacific salmon are facing a crisis. Can the minister confirm how much of the $35 million budgeted last year for the PSSI was spent?
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- May/30/22 8:59:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we actually have $176.7 million this year for the Pacific salmon strategy initiative, to do the very important work of restoration, conservation and stewardship, and harvest transformation, as well as standing up some organizations that will focus on wild Pacific salmon on the coast.
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- May/30/22 9:00:07 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would say that I am as anxious as the member is that we take action to restore wild Pacific salmon. I will say that there are some—
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- May/30/22 9:00:51 p.m.
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Madam Chair, could the minister please clarify how many projects have been initiated under the salmon enhancement pillar of the PSSI since it launched over a year ago?
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- May/30/22 9:01:21 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it will achieve its goals through collaboration across government, partners, stakeholders and interested parties. Dr. Brian Riddell of the Pacific Salmon Foundation said he has not been able to participate in any consultations around the PSSI.
Ms. Charlotte Whitney from the Central Coast Indigenous Resource Alliance indicated that the department has provided no information about how the program would be implemented alongside first nations research and traditional knowledge.
When will Canadians see any forward movement from this program if DFO is not ready to consult with key scientific institutions such as the Pacific Salmon Foundation?
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- May/30/22 9:01:59 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would say that most organizations always would like more in consultation. I think that is just the case.
We do consult with a whole range of organizations, and certainly I was happy to announce a whole lot of money for new science of understanding the salmon runs with the Pacific salmon initiative just a few months ago.
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- May/30/22 9:03:08 p.m.
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Madam Chair, based on the lack of real action to implement the PSSI, will this be another lost year for wild Pacific salmon and habitat restoration efforts?
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- May/30/22 9:03:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, this will be a very active and productive year on behalf of our wild Pacific salmon, just as it should be.
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- May/30/22 9:03:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, there are many factors contributing to the decline of wild salmon, but it is indisputable that open-net salmon farming is having a detrimental impact on our wild salmon.
The government has promised to take action in its past three mandate letters. Why are we not seeing real funding being committed in this year's budget?
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- May/30/22 9:03:50 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we are working on a responsible plan to transition away from open net-pen salmon aquaculture. I have had many consultations with indigenous communities, with industry and with environmental organizations. We need to do this in a responsible—
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- May/30/22 9:04:28 p.m.
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Madam Chair, what I will say is that we are utterly committed to developing a responsible plan to transition away from open net-pen salmon aquaculture in British Columbia. We need to do that because we—
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- May/30/22 9:11:20 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as I have said, we have $747 million for the Pacific salmon initiative, and we will use that where it will do the most good.
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- May/30/22 9:11:58 p.m.
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Madam Chair, does the minister agree that as the climate crisis becomes more urgent, our programs like the PSSI need to be adaptive and able to respond quickly? Why can the PSSI not be there when salmon need support the most?
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- May/30/22 9:12:32 p.m.
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Madam Chair, Watershed Watch and SkeenaWild recently published a report estimating that last year Alaskan fishers caught an estimated 650,000 B.C.-bound sockeye salmon while Canadian fishers caught as few as 110,000.
Does the minister agree that first nations, commercial fishers and recreational fishers should be forced to keep their boats at dock while so many B.C.-bound fish are being caught in Alaska?
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- May/30/22 9:13:01 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is very important that our Pacific salmon are not overfished. I have heard the concerns about potential Alaskan overfishing, and that has been forwarded to the Pacific Salmon Treaty commissioners. They will be reviewing that.
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- May/30/22 9:13:41 p.m.
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Madam Chair, it is great to participate in the committee of the whole this evening. My remarks will be centred around the Pacific salmon strategy initiative that the minister and our government are undertaking.
I would be remiss if I did not say that one of the reasons I wanted to speak this evening and ask the minister questions is that when my parents immigrated to Canada in the early 1960s to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, my mother, her four sisters and my grandmother all worked at a cannery in Prince Rupert, in a very vibrant fishing community. In high school and then in university, I worked at J.S. McMillan Fisheries. I understand very well the fishing industry. I think about going for picnics along the Skeena River as a kid and fishing. I used what is called a kitimat and bait to fish for various types of salmon at that time. It brings back very fond memories for my family, particularly my grandparents, who are no longer in this world and are in another world, and my parents, who are at home watching this evening.
I want to salute my mother and her sisters, who for many years were filleters and worked in canneries. It is very rigorous and hard work done manually, and they did it to provide a better future for me, my first cousins and siblings. They have my utmost respect and gratitude. We had many folks come from the east coast during that time, and a lot of my friends came from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, moving interprovincially to work in Prince Rupert, especially during the summertime. It is a fond part of my childhood memories and will always be a part of me.
I am pleased to speak today about the efforts our government is taking to protect wild salmon populations. By way of background, the five most common species of Pacific salmon, which give me a big smile, are pink, chum, coho, chinook and sockeye. While the department responded to declines in coho populations two decades ago with strong management measures, the more significant declines in many southern British Columbia chinook and sockeye populations in recent years call for immediate and bolder actions.
Let me state clearly that Fisheries and Oceans Canada is committed to the long-term health and sustainability of our rich fishery resources. I am confident that Fisheries and Oceans Canada's launch of the Pacific salmon strategy initiative, or PSSI, in June 2021, as well as its ongoing work with first nations, harvesters, stakeholders and the Governments of British Columbia and Yukon, will help us address the top priority.
The PSSI is a $647.1-million investment that addresses the steep declines in Pacific salmon through a series of immediate and long-term measures organized under four pillars: conservation and stewardship, salmon enhancement, harvest transformation, and integration and collaboration. This will include significant new investments in habitat restoration, integrated ecosystem planning, hatchery capacity and science to inform decision-making. This is the largest, most transformative investment Canada has made in Pacific salmon.
The PSSI, among other initiatives, is aimed at protecting Pacific salmon and will integrate and leverage other recent investments, while at the same time ensure that our actions are designed to meet clear biological objectives and discover innovative ways to improve the resiliency of our Pacific salmon fisheries. The department is taking a long-term approach to stabilizing, restoring and rebuilding salmon stocks and the habitat that is critical to their survival. The approach of the PSSI is built on coordination, partnerships, best available science and, as I have just said, significant new financial resources through the PSSI. Fisheries and Oceans Canada will look to indigenous communities, British Columbia and Yukon partners, harvesters and other stakeholders to join us in this strategic and targeted approach to address the challenges currently facing Canada's Pacific salmon.
I wish to salute my friends and their parents who were trawlers, gillnetters and seiners and who went out into the waters in the Pacific Ocean while we were in high school and university. I remember the conversations I had and the rich experiences I was able to gain through my friendships with those individuals. I am still in contact with many of them today.
Funding for the PSSI is already being used to implement immediate and long-term solutions. Under PSSI's conservation and stewardship pillar, we are investing new resources in science, in additional salmon habitat monitoring and assessment and in integrated planning and habitat restoration. We are ensuring that our priority-setting is informed by available science, which we will also use to help us evaluate how well our management actions are working so we can adjust more nimbly.
As we know, Canadians across the country are feeling the impacts of climate-related extremes first-hand, from devastating wildfires and flooding to heat waves and droughts. Not surprisingly, these events are also having a significant impact on Pacific salmon populations. To respond to this, we are supporting integrated salmon rebuilding and ecosystem planning processes that incorporate improved climate science, salmon conservation priorities and the interests of our partners.
We have committed an additional $100 million toward doubling the size of the British Columbia salmon restoration and innovation fund, a fund that is delivered in partnership with the Province of British Columbia. We are also creating a new salmon habitat restoration centre of expertise to provide expanded technical expertise and resources to help first nations and community partners strategically direct and deliver salmon habitat restoration, informed, of course, by science. An important aspect of the PSSI is a strong focus on strengthening collaboration with the Province of British Columbia and the territorial Government of Yukon by strengthening current governance structures and better aligning our respective Pacific salmon priorities.
Under the PSSI salmon enhancement pillar, we are modernizing current hatchery programs, focusing on how salmon hatcheries can directly help conserve, restore and enhance priority salmon populations. We are also enhancing our scientific and technical support for hatcheries to ensure that we can support the broader objective of conserving and rebuilding Pacific salmon stocks. Initial planning and consultations are under way to construct new DFO and community-based hatcheries so that key populations of concern can be protected and rebuilt in areas within British Columbia that currently have no significant hatchery capacity.
Through the PSSI harvest transformation pillar, Fisheries and Oceans Canada took steps last June to introduce additional restrictions and closures in commercial salmon fisheries to further protect stocks of conservation concern. We intend to implement this more precautionary approach for the longer term.
Since then, we have begun work with Pacific salmon harvesters to transform how these fisheries are being managed. This includes recognizing that the Pacific salmon commercial fishery must be smaller and more resilient, and that it needs to employ more selective fishing methods and approaches to reduce bycatch of weak wild stocks. To this end, the new Pacific salmon commercial licence retirement program, which we will be launching in the coming weeks, will give commercial harvesters an option to retire their licences for market value, helping us to right-size the commercial fleet.
The department has also been meeting with first nations to better understand how harvesting for food and for social and ceremonial purposes has been affected by declining salmon returns, or salmon runs, as we used to say. DFO will also be discussing the economic impacts related to communal commercial salmon licences, which are held by many first nations in British Columbia and Yukon. DFO will be working together with first nations to explore options, such as shifting to more selective fishing gear and harvesting non-salmon species.
The department is modernizing how recreational salmon fisheries are managed by improving fishery monitoring, data and management tools. For example, DFO will be consulting broadly in the coming weeks about developing a framework for implementing additional marked selective fisheries in the future.
Lastly, the activities under our fourth pillar, integration and collaboration, will develop our all-important collaboration with indigenous partners and stakeholders even further. The challenge before us is a long-term one and will require all hands on deck.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada cannot do this alone. The last six years have been the warmest on the planet. The recent widespread floods and landslides in British Columbia are another major setback to wild Pacific salmon stocks. Our efforts to protect, recover and rebuild these iconic species are even more important now. Our government is making generational investments to protect and restore Pacific salmon and their ecosystems by working in partnership with indigenous nations and other governments.
Moving on to my questions, as I mentioned, the last six years have been the warmest on the planet. When we take this into account, along with recent floods and landslides in British Columbia, it is clear that we must prioritize the protection, recovery and rebuilding of these iconic species. Pacific salmon need our help, and the $647.1 million announced in budget 2021 will guide a strategic and coordinated long-term response to these issues.
Can the minister please explain how the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard are hoping to stem the decline of Pacific salmon stocks and populations and protect and rebuild these stocks?
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- May/30/22 9:23:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I would like to thank the member for the story of his family early on and their connection with fisheries and for his concern about wild Pacific salmon. They have been such a high priority for British Columbians and for this government, and this is even more critical today given the complex challenges facing the species, including, as he mentioned, climate change, changes in land and water use, and B.C.'s year of floods, fires and slides.
The PSSI will include habitat, hatcheries and harvest approaches to conserve and restore Pacific salmon. The department is continuing to work to ensure that new and ongoing investments, activities and Pacific salmon programming are properly aligned with other partners to achieve maximum and key results. In particular, programs and actions will be implemented to respond to the historic declines of the Pacific salmon by putting in place conservation approaches and plans to prioritize Pacific salmon populations and support their recovery.
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- May/30/22 9:24:27 p.m.
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Madam Chair, Pacific salmon have social and cultural significance for many Canadians, and they are economically vital to many local communities. This iconic species is experiencing drastic population declines due to a combination of climate, habitat and harvesting pressures. Bold, transformative action is needed now to stabilize, protect and rebuild west coast salmon stocks for the ecosystems and communities that depend on them before it is too late. Many Pacific wild salmon are on the verge of collapse, and we need to take bold and ambitious action now if we are to reverse the trends and give them a fighting chance at survival.
The PSSI is a comprehensive initiative that will build on and support the years of work and wisdom that grassroots organizations, indigenous communities, scientists and others have already put into effect to protect and recover Pacific salmon. Can the hon. minister please explain the funding strategy of the PSSI?
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- May/30/22 9:30:57 p.m.
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Madam Chair, if the minister had actually met with the fishing community, one would think it would be first-hand. It is easy to remember the fishing community. Believe me, I know a lot of them in B.C., and they are certainly unforgettable.
A study funded by the minister's own department recently found that the numbers of chinook salmon in the Salish Sea during the summertime are four to six times more abundant for southern resident killer whales than in northern resident whales' feeding grounds. A lack of prey for southern resident killer whales has been used by the minister's predecessor as the reason for shutting down our public fisheries. This has now been clearly debunked. When will the minister's department start making science-based decisions when it comes to keeping our public fishery open?
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- May/30/22 9:31:42 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I have a lot of admiration and respect for the recreational fishery industry. I know it is a huge economic driver as well. Fundamentally, we need to respect the science of the salmon stocks, and that is what we are doing.
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