The House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans met to continue its study on the review of the Fisheries Act and to study the attribution of redfish quotas and exploratory lobster licences. Appearing were Michael Barron, President of the Cape Breton Fish Harvesters Association; Bernie Berry, Senior Fisheries Advisor for the Coldwater Lobster Association; Claire Canet, Project Manager for the Regroupement des pêcheurs professionnels du sud de la Gaspésie; and Guy Vigneault and Daniel Malec from the Agence Mamu Innu Kakussesht.
Michael Barron urged the committee to legally protect the owner-operator and fleet separation policies, arguing they are currently vulnerable as departmental policies that can be changed without accountability. He called for clearly defined ministerial powers, improved transparency in consultations, and stronger reliance on science and local knowledge in decision-making, warning that without action, trust is eroding and small fishing enterprises are at risk. He disagreed with the idea that corporate and owner-operator fisheries could coexist, stating that corporate concentration would destroy coastal communities.
Bernie Berry described how corporate entities use fraudulent agreements, substitute operators with medical certificates, and boat brokers to circumvent owner-operator and fleet separation policies, gaining control of lobster licences. He recommended that these policies be moved from policy into regulations with stiffer penalties, including licence cancellations and forfeiture of gains, to deter all participants, including lawyers and brokers. He noted that while DFO has made sporadic enforcement attempts, they have not been thorough enough, and he cited foreign ownership, including Chinese entities, as a growing concern.
Claire Canet argued that the Fisheries Act, since its 2019 amendments, has made fisheries management more political, with opaque agreements and a failure to apply principles like adjacency and owner-operator protection. She proposed amendments to clarify the act’s purpose, frame ministerial discretion, improve transparency, and strengthen the role of science and knowledge, emphasizing that fisheries resources are common, public, and strategic. She noted that court cases for acknowledged offences have been dropped under unusual circumstances, undermining enforcement.
Guy Vigneault and Daniel Malec described the collaborative process on Quebec’s Côte-Nord, where Innu communities worked with non-indigenous fishers and DFO over many years to obtain exploratory lobster licences. They stressed that the licences were issued based on science and adjacency, with a fifty-fifty allocation agreed by consensus, and that the region has only a small number of licences relative to its coastline. They expressed disappointment that the committee did not initially call Innu representatives as witnesses, and they defended the process as fair and essential for economic reconciliation.
The committee also discussed procedural matters, including the status of invitations to former ministers Dominic LeBlanc and Diane Lebouthillier to testify, with the clerk noting that an invitation had been sent to LeBlanc but not yet answered, and that contact information for Lebouthillier was still being sought. A point of order was raised regarding the disclosure of in-camera discussions, and the chair noted the matter would be reviewed.
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