This comuttiee has been suspended for covid reasons .
However some of the minutes and evidence has now been posted.
This conversation is very telling
https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/43-1/FOPO/meeting-4/evidence
Hon. Ed Fast:
Okay.
Ms. Rebecca Reid: Actually, I don't believe that's the case.
Hon. Ed Fast:
I met with them yesterday. That is the case. They were with me in my office.
Ms. Rebecca Reid:
More selective fishing is what they have told us they want. They're not proposing mass marking. There is a difference between those.
Hon. Ed Fast:
I understand the difference, but they want to see more opportunities to catch fish. It's a significant industry on the west coast. Maybe they're telling me something quite different from what they're telling you, but they would love to see much greater marking of fish. I did notice a reluctance on your part earlier to go down that path. I'd like to know why.
Ms. Rebecca Reid:
I was trying to explain in just a few short words some of the technical considerations around mark-selective fishing, and particularly mass making. We're going to need to adapt our systems and processes in order to ensure we have the scientific information we need and that we can protect wild salmon.
There are ways to do it and we are looking at those. We're working with the sports industry on that.
My point was simply that we need to be thoughtful and careful about how we proceed down that path.
Hon. Ed Fast:
What's happening in Washington state with mass marking?
Ms. Rebecca Reid:
Their situation is very different down there. They have a higher reliance on hatchery fish. Here we have the wild salmon policy, which prescribes our approach to protect wild salmon. In that way we need to be careful about how many hatchery fish we put into the system, because they do have an impact on those wild returns.
Hon. Ed Fast:
In Washington state they obviously have as much concern for protecting the wild salmon, yet they have much broader marking of fish than we do on the west coast of B.C. I just don't see why we wouldn't be exploring the experience of Washington state to try to enhance the opportunities for the sports fishers in British Columbia.
Mr. Andrew Thomson:
We do have a pilot program this year at Conuma hatchery on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, where we'll be having a pilot marking and mark-selective fishery.
Hon. Ed Fast:
Is it a mass marking project?
Mr. Andrew Thomson:
Yes.
Ms. Rebecca Reid:
SEP hasn't had an increase, but it's not running at a deficit. We balance our budget, if that's what you're asking.
Mr. Brad Vis:
Yes, I know, so it is a deficit that it's operating at if you look year over year.
Ms. Rebecca Reid: It will be hard to be concise, but I'll say two things about marking. One is that mass marking affects our stock assessment work. As we mark more fish, we lose information about stocks. The second thing is that unless you do the marking in a particular way, you end up killing wild fish. That's not to say you can't do it, but you need to be careful. You need to have a plan. You can't rush into it. You need to be very deliberate and thoughtful about how you move into a mass marking or a mark-selective fishery regime.
Mr. Brad Vis:
They're doing that, obviously, in Oregon and Washington. We're catching some of that fish. Why is it that we're not tying in with what they're doing?
Ms. Rebecca Reid:
We have looked at what Washington is doing. It has a very different situation down there. Our priority here is wild fish, so in order to protect wild fish, we need to make sure they are able to return to their streams. Having huge marked fishing opportunities means you're picking up wild fish and marked fish at the same time, and there is an impact on those wild fish. That's not to say you can't do it, but you need to be thoughtful about it.
Mr. Brad Vis:
They're already doing it right now. They're catching fish and releasing. In terms of conservation, we see this as a pathway forward. We can have a longer debate about this, and I hope there's room at some point, because the communities want the department to come to the communities and have this conversation. It's of utmost importance, and we're hearing it from everyone up and down the coast.
Ms. Rebecca Reid:
We are having that conversation, and that's part of some of the chinook meetings that we are leading right now.