Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for giving me the opportunity to present before the committee today.
My brother and I are fourth-generation fishers who operate 18-foot to 65-foot fishing vessels and employ 18 crew members. The crab fishery represents approximately 85% of our revenue. As the Newfoundland snow crab fishery had a landed value of $624 million in 2021, you can appreciate how important the crab fishery is to our fishing operation as well as rural communities and Newfoundland and Labrador as a whole. Without shellfish, rural communities would not resemble what they are today, but rather struggle to survive.
I have fished for 34 years, operating out of Fogo on the northeast coast of Newfoundland. I have to say that every time I see whale, and I've seen hundreds, it's still an amazing experience. I want to see our marine ecosystem thrive while doing the least harm possible. In those 34 years, I have never seen a right whale, let alone an entanglement. Only once have I ever heard of a whale entanglement of any species in crab gear.
If you reference the interactive North Atlantic right whale map on the DFO website and select October 2015 to present, this map shows only four confirmed right whale sightings on the east and northeast coast in this time period. The clerk can forward you the link upon request. One of these sightings occurred in September while three occurred in November. During these months there is no crab or lobster fisheries taking place and indeed very little fixed gear activity of any type.
Still with no impact on right whales in these areas, we are still mandated to use new whalesafe ropes that are not proven effective, while places like Nunavut and British Columbia are exempt because they are deemed not to have whale entanglements. As harvesters we have taken measures in the past to protect whales and satisfy the MMPA rules, including rope markings to identify area and fishery in case of an entanglement, plus minimizing slack rope at the surface.
Since these measures were introduced, has there been any evidence that these fisheries from the east and northeast coast or Labrador fisheries have entangled right whales?
In regard to whalesafe rope, you have to appreciate the environment we operate in. We need to impress upon DFO that a one-size-fits-all solution doesn't work for all fisheries and regions. In the gulf, some harvesters operate single traps, which increases the density of vertical lines in the water. In Newfoundland, we use fleets of pots with about 70 pots per fleet, with one vertical line at each end, posing much less risk for these whales.
During the limited consultation last winter, fishers were informed that the 1,700-pound weak link would be implemented in all fisheries. You have to appreciate that includes a lobster fisher in two fathoms of water, crab fishery in 200 fathoms to turbot fishing on the edge of the continental shelf in depths down to 650 fathoms.
Our vessels fish in very harsh conditions starting April 1 with crab, early in the year to avoid mortality from softshell as the season progresses. With that early start comes challenging conditions from ice to heavy seas. It is not uncommon to haul gear in four- to six-metre swells. Just picture a 65-foot vessel at 150 tonnes hauling up a fleet of crab pots from 1,200 feet of water full of snow crab in four- to six-metre swells. As the vessel rises on the swells the 1,700-pound weak link will certainly break. The physics don't add up. Ropeless technology is far from proven or practical. Why are we trying to create a solution for a problem we don't have in our fishing areas in the first place?
North Atlantic right whales have been in the media often, with groups such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch advising people to avoid east coast Canadian crab and lobster. This information is not correct and portrays that all crab and lobster fisheries in eastern Canada are harmful to right whales. The department instead should be prioritizing their work in areas where there is deemed to be a problem and focus their resources there, while educating environmental groups and promoting the positive side of the crab fisheries where there are not any entanglements.
It is so easy to place blame on the fishing industry when gear seen on a whale is tangible. How much research is done on other industries to see what the effects are? Noise from busy shipping lanes, pollution and seismic activity that emits huge underwater air blasts are all concerns for fishers. Maybe you can understand why we feel unfairly targeted.
In closing, I will say no fisherman wants or can afford to lose gear. We have taken measures in the past, including biodegradable twine in crab pots, to allow escapement from ghost gear. With these regulations for implementing whalesafe rope, we are actually increasing the chance of more ghost gear and increasing the risk to the marine ecosystem, the very opposite of the goal. The department is trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist in one area, but it is actually causing a much bigger one.
The department must not forget that, with all the new rules and regulations, managing the species that live in the ocean is critically important but, in turn, managing the people who work on it and earn their livelihoods from it must not be forgotten.
Thank you. I look forward to your questions.