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 11:23:28 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 11:26:06 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 11:58:02 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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