FOPO Committee Related Document

Supplementary Report from the Committee’s Conservative Party of Canada

pacific salmon: ensuring the long-term health of wild populations and associated fisheries

Pacific Salmon Stocks are in Crisis

The Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ (FOPO) study of the state of Pacific salmon has occurred over the span of fifteen months in which most Pacific salmon stocks have continued to decline at alarming rates. While the crises facing Pacific salmon may not be new, the state of this keystone species has never been so dire.

Mr. Jason Hwang of the Pacific Salmon Foundation warned the committee that immediate action is necessary to avert stocks collapses when he testified that “failure to take action now is likely to result in many of our Pacific salmon populations following a path similar to what happened to our east coast cod, and we all know that story.”[1] The stark and urgent need for action was reinforced by Mr. Robert Chamberlin of the First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance who stated Pacific salmon are in a “downward spiral to extinction in the coming years.”[2]

Mr. Arthur Adolph of the St’át’imc Chiefs Council described the impacts that Indigenous communities can expect if the status quo is not reversed.  He said that if Pacific salmon stocks of the Fraser River collapse, the “St’át’imc culture, traditions, way of life and well-being will all collapse, forcing us further into fourth world conditions within our own homelands.”[3]

Representatives of commercial and public fisheries and other sectors also provided testimony detailing the uncertain and insecure future that they face because of constant stock declines.

Testimony received from witnesses throughout this study confirmed the many factors that continue to threaten west coast salmon and livelihoods and food security of the Indigenous communities, workers, families, and communities that rely on salmon fisheries. While some new or newly confirmed threats to salmon were revealed in witness testimony, most threats facing Pacific salmon are not new- they have been known for many years. 

Witnesses also provided the committee with viable and proven solutions for the many threats driving Pacific salmon declines. Much like the threats facing salmon today, the solutions provided to the committee were not new concepts or practices. In fact, most of the solutions that witnesses advocated for have also been known for years.

As the body of evidence for this study grew, it became increasingly apparent that the continued declines of Pacific salmon are not in fact the result of an absence of answers and solutions for the questions and problems facing Pacific salmon. The continued declines of Pacific salmon are the direct result of failed management of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) led by Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan.

Financial resources without the right plans, management and actions do not restore stocks

Over the past five and a half years, the Trudeau government and its four different Fisheries Ministers that have led DFO have asserted that the legislative changes, resources, and direction they were providing DFO were sufficient to restore and protect Pacific salmon. However, the current state and continued declines of Pacific salmon clearly show the government’s assertions and actions have failed Pacific salmon and the food webs, workers and communities that depend on them.

In his April 10, 2016 appearance at FOPO, former Fisheries Minister Tootoo told the committee that Budget 2016 investments of $197.1 million in DFO science “will help us make more informed decisions about our oceans, waterways, and fisheries.”[4] Despite this assurance, the state of Pacific salmon shows the 2016 investments in DFO science have not produced informed decisions, plans or management that have restored Pacific salmon stocks.

Solutions for Immediate Action Exist but Have Rejected

During its study, the committee was told of viable and science-based solutions that could directly benefit Pacific salmon immediately if implemented. Many solutions are known or have been proposed but DFO has rejected them without providing explanations why.

For instance, Dr. Carl Walters of the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries explained how pinniped predation of Pacific salmon smolts has contributed to stock declines.

“A major paper came out from DFO scientists in 2010 showing that the seal populations in the Georgia Strait had increased by about tenfold between 1972 and 2000 in a pattern that was pretty much a mirror image of the decline in the Georgia Strait fishery,” Walters testified. “Our data shows that the amount of juvenile salmon eaten by seals each year in the Georgia Strait is enough to directly account for the decline. There are almost as many juvenile chinook and coho going into the Georgia Strait every year as juveniles as there were back in the 1970s, but they're not surviving their first year in the ocean.”[5]

Mr. Ken Pearce of the Pacific Balance Pinniped Society told the committee how his organization presented an integrated fisheries management plan for pinniped management to DFO in 2018 but that proposal has not been accepted.[6] To date, no plan to support Pacific salmon survival through pinniped management has been announced by DFO.

Mr. Owen Bird of the Sport Fishing Institute of British Columbia also related how DFO was provided a proposal for a mark selective fishery to target salmon of hatchery origin as a means of reducing mortality of wild origin Pacific salmon.[7]

At the time of his testimony, Bird and more than 9,000 workers employed by British Columbia’s public fishery were hopeful the proposal would be approved by DFO. However, DFO did not release its notice until six weeks after it was expected and when the notice was released, it did not include the proposal. Neither DFO nor Minister Jordan have provided a scientific explanation for their rejection of the mark selective fishery proposal.

Jesse Zeman of the BC Wildlife Federation imparted the urgent need for a pivot to selective fishing gear to protect Pacific salmon when he stated, “we can move to selective fishing methods. Not only are steelhead a victim of nets on the Fraser; so are salmon, and I'm sure over the next year we'll find that sturgeon are being driven into a decline that is largely attributed to nets. Nets need to go.”[8]

“The first year of the salmon restoration and innovation fund, there were actually applications from First Nations to transition to more selective methods,” Zeman said, “and those applications were turned down.”[9]

Captain Josh Temple of the Coastal Restoration Society[10] and Aaron Hill[11]of Watershed Watch Salmon Society both drew the committee’s attention to the need for invasive species to be guarded against and eradicated for the sake of protecting Pacific salmon habitat.

The threats invasive species pose to Pacific salmon are not new developments- they have been known for many years. The Prime Minister’s 2019 mandate letter to Minister Jordan instructed her to make new investments in the fight against invasive species, but no such new investments have been made to protect British Columbia’s waters, including Pacific salmon habitat.

Again, plans or mandates that are not connected to appropriate resources, management and actions fail to achieve the intended objective as invasive species in British Columbia continue to proliferate and damage Pacific salmon habitats.

Failures to Take Essential Actions by Performing Basic Responsibilities Contribute to Declines 

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing inflicts significant harm on Pacific salmon.

In 2018, then Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc stated that he had viewed a satellite image of an eight-kilometer long net illegally harvesting more than 400,000 kilograms of wild salmon in the high seas of the Pacific.

At that time, LeBlanc stated that the image in question and others should be shared publicly in order “to name and shame some of the worst practitioners” of IUU fishing.[12] Three years later, the image in question has not been shared publicly and the Trudeau government has failed to name and shame the worst practitioners of IUU fishing.

Jesse Zeman provided the committee insight into IUU fishing on the Fraser River. “On poaching, there are pictures of endangered chinook and steelhead and at-risk coho in illegal nets that surface almost daily. They are reported to DFO, and no one even calls us back,” Zeman said.[13]

“Charges are rarely pursued. Fisheries officers have become experts in cutting gillnets out of the Fraser, as opposed to protecting salmon from poachers. Fisheries monitoring must be improved for all sectors,” Zeman continued. “There is no illegal harvest accounted for in run reconstruction models, and we are aware that fisheries-related induced mortality of Fraser chinook are not even included in the river. What that means is there are thousands of fish, if not tens of thousands, that are killed in the Fraser every single year, which, according to DFO, never even existed.”[14]

IUU fishing alone can confound investments and efforts made by DFO, Indigenous communities and conservation organizations to restore and conserve Pacific salmon. IUU fishing is a serious threat to the recovery and conservation of Pacific salmon yet DFO and the Trudeau government’s successive Fisheries Ministers up to Minister Jordan have failed to deal with this threat.

Basic DFO fisheries management functions like monitoring, enforcement and supporting habitat restoration should be well established, but the committee was told they are not. In his testimony, Aaron Hill clearly stated that “many salmon monitoring programs have been cut to the bone.”[15] Jesse Zeman told the committee, “you can fund habitat restoration. There are only six restoration biologists for the entire province of British Columbia. They have no base budget.”[16]

“We need better information, better management science, better monitoring and better assessment so that we can access the fisheries and the populations that are healthy and protect those that are weak,” Jason Hwang testified. “In terms of monitoring, assessment and data, to summarize, we can't manage what we don't measure. We're not monitoring enough and we're not measuring enough.”[17] DFO’s capacity deficiencies are known but have not been filled.

Funding Alone Will Not Restore Pacific Salmon

On June 8, 2021, Minister Jordan announced the $647.1 million Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative (PSSI) and was asked how much of the funding is going to be spent this fiscal year and the Minister was unable to answer the question.[18]

When asked twice how much of the funds will be allocated to Indigenous efforts supporting Pacific salmon, the Minister was also unable to provide an answer.[19]

The Minister could only account for how $100 million of the PSSI funds will be spent and repeatedly stated that the initiative will be “built from the ground up.”[20]

While we sincerely hope this latest Pacific salmon funding announcement will restore and conserve stocks, we are concerned that the Trudeau government’s new approach is a mere reiteration of their already-failed approach of allocating resources that are not attached to clear plans with clear objectives to precipitate timely and effective management actions.

Resources alone will not restore Pacific salmon stocks; they must be attached to the right plans, management, and actions immediately.

Unexplained Decisions Delivered Without Transition Plans Destabilize Lives

In her appearance at committee for this study, the Minister confirmed that is it she who is ultimately responsible for DFO.[21] However, what is less clear is how informed the Minister is and what factors she actually incorporates in her decision making. The Minister continues to state her decisions are based on science, yet she stands by multiple decisions announced in the past year alone for which she has not provided scientific basis. We believe that the Minister should base decisions on science and provide citizens with the scientific evidence to support her decisions.

Despite the Minister’s assertions of being committed to science-based decision making, witness testimony repeatedly demonstrated that even though the 2016 resources were allocated and five years have passed for the funds to be implemented, Minister Jordan and DFO have not filled the science and knowledge gaps that Minister Tootoo suggested would be remedied to support informed decisions back in 2016.

Equally troubling is the Minister’s established pattern of making sudden or delayed announcements that render profound negative impacts on the lives of British Columbians. These impacts are compounded by the fact that they are not accompanied by any plans for supporting transitions for the people, families and communities affected.

In the past year alone and during a pandemic that has cast great uncertainty and instability across the salmon economy, Trudeau government decisions delivered by Minister Jordan have put the livelihoods and futures of over 10,000 British Columbians working in fisheries and aquaculture on notice without first providing any plans to support transitions for the workers or communities affected.

Beyond fisheries and aquaculture jobs, many other jobs in sectors including those related to tourism like hospitality, transport, food and beverage and whale watching have also had their security eroded by sudden and unexplained decisions by the Trudeau government.

In failing Pacific salmon, the Trudeau government has already failed the Indigenous communities, workers, families, and coastal communities that depend on Pacific salmon; the addition of sudden and unexplained decisions with no transitions plans for those affected adds insult to injury.

Cohen Commission Recommendations Have Not Been Implemented

The Cohen Commission of Inquiry into the Decline of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River was established in 2009 as a timely and direct response to record low returns of Pacific sockeye salmon to the Fraser River.

In 2012, Justice Cohen released his report that included 75 recommendations, some of which prescribed the need for further scientific investigations while also setting timelines for decisions that needed to be made once the prescribed science had been completed.

A few months later in early 2013, the Strategic Salmon Health Initiative (SSHI) was established with a 4-phase mandate to pursue specific scientific investigations prescribed by Cohen. Since its establishment, the SSHI has delivered on its mandated purpose and published dozens of reports broadening the understanding of factors affecting Pacific salmon.

Conservative members are concerned that the Trudeau government is now lapsing the SSHI at a time when the initiative has only completed 2 of its 4 mandated phases. In her appearance at committee for this study, Minister Jordan was asked why the government is lapsing the SSHI at this critical juncture and she did not provide an answer.[22]

The Trudeau government’s lapsing of the SSHI and failure to implement Cohen’s recommendations are also examples of known solutions either not being deployed or deployed without complete implementation. As Aaron Hill testified, “the solutions are there…first, the government could implement the broad recommendations of the Cohen inquiry. It cost taxpayers around $35 million. Contrary to the spin, most of Justice Cohen's 75 recommendations have not been implemented.”[23]

Lack of Transparency in Decision-Making

Minister Jordan has repeatedly refused to answer questions on the scientific basis for decisions with significant impacts on communities, and there was some concerning testimony that seemed to indicate that political and administrative decisions were influencing science rather than the other way around.

In particular, Jesse Zeman testified how DFO officials interfered in a scientific process assessing Steelhead when he stated, “what we've found through FOIs, freedom of information requests, is that the peer-reviewed science document findings had been edited in a science advisory report ostensibly to downplay the effects of nets on steelhead.”[24]

Subsequent reports have detailed how DFO interfered in this federal-provincial emergency assessment process to protect the status quo rather than protecting stocks on the brink of extinction. DFO’s underhanded interference in this process was blatantly disrespectful of their Government of British Columbia partners.

Status of Indigenous Co-governance Is Unclear

Darren Haskell of the Fraser Salmon Management Council appeared as a witness for this study and provided valuable contributions detailing the Fraser Salmon Collaborative Management Agreement (FSCMA) that was signed with the Trudeau government in 2019.

This agreement provides Indigenous communities along the Fraser River a co-governance structure shared with DFO and the federal government in which Indigenous representatives have 50/50 representation and decision-making authority for management decisions governing all Fraser River salmon species along their entire migratory route.

In his May 5, 2021 appearance for the study, Haskell was asked what the status of the FSCMA implementation. “It's kind of stalled at the moment because of funding,” responded Haskell. “The funding that we proposed and that we need to get this board to do this important work really has not flowed from DFO.”[25]

This testimony again raises serious concerns as it is another clear example of the government’s failure to ensure that resources are properly linked to plans, management, and actions. This testimony also raises serious questions of what the status of management and governance is for all species of Fraser salmon along their entire migratory route. 

Genuine Engagement and Accountability Are Missing

If the Trudeau government, Minister Jordan and DFO wish to improve the state of Pacific salmon, they must engage and cooperate with British Columbians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who depend on the shared resources of Pacific salmon stocks. The act of consultation, when it is provided by DFO, has been hollowed-out to be a mere exercise allowing DFO to check a box and say they have consulted.

This approach impedes progress and is contrary to democratic principles that should guide government management of any common shared resource like Pacific salmon stocks. Canada’s Pacific salmon do not belong to the government nor to DFO- they are a shared resource belonging to Canadians who deserve meaningful opportunities to provide input and proposals before decisions are made and likewise receive fulsome explanations when decisions are announced.

Ignoring or rejecting proposals from British Columbians is also counterproductive because it engrains the growing sense that the government, Minister and DFO think they know best and consider an overly top-down approach to governance to be acceptable when it is not.

Testimony provided to the committee in its study demonstrates the high level of insight, expertise and wisdom that exists and is available beyond the confines of DFO. These are resources that are underutilized at a time when the state of Pacific salmon needs them most.

Mr. Hwang reinforced the potential value of harvesters being provided meaningful engagement when he stated that, “participants in the fishery—First Nations, public and commercial—have capacity to bring to the table.”[26]

While the authority and responsibility for leading and managing DFO’s work rests with the Minister, the severity and scale of threats facing Pacific salmon truly necessitates the need for buy-in and action from as many organizations and citizens as possible. It is apparent that Minister Jordan’s approach to leading DFO has alienated public confidence in the government, DFO and their attempts to restore and conserve Pacific salmon.

Conclusion

The crisis state of Pacific salmon is the result of the Trudeau government’s failures to deploy appropriate resources, plans and management actions in a timely and effective manner.

The continued rejections of viable proposals and actions prevent the achievement of much needed and overdue results for Pacific salmon and the workers and communities they support.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities continue to have their lives and livelihoods thrown into uncertainty by unexplained decisions announced with no transition plans attached to support those affected. All too often, those who are most impacted by Trudeau government decisions are afforded the least support and engagement.

The failures of Minister Jordan and DFO to offer accountability through authentic consultation and transparent decision-making processes continues to alienate the very communities that DFO and the Minister need to cooperate with to achieve timely and effective results for Pacific salmon.

If the $647.1 million Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative is to achieve timely and effective results, as we hope it does, Minister Jordan must set aside her ill-conceived vision of building this latest initiative from the ground up and instead connect resources with the plans and actions that are already mandated, known and proven to support recovery and conservation of Pacific salmon.

The time for real action and results is now.

[1] Jason Hwang, Vice-President, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[2] Robert Chamberlin, Chairman, First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance, Evidence, 9 December 2020.

[3] Arthur Adolph, Director of Operations, St’át’imc Chiefs Council, Evidence, 9 December 2020.

[4] Hon. Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Evidence, 19 April 2016.

[5] Carl Walters, Professor Emeritus, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British Columbia, As an

Individual, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[6] Ken Pearce, Pacific Balance Pinniped Society, Evidence, 11 August 2020.

[7] Owen Bird, Executive Director, Sport Fishing Institute of British Columbia, Evidence, 7 December 2020.

[8] Jesse Zeman, Director of Fish and Wildlife Restoration, B.C. Wildlife Federation, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Josh Temple, Executive Director, Coastal Restoration Society, Evidence, 14 April 2021.

[11] Aaron Hill, Executive Director, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[12] Mike Blanchfield, “Minister calls for G7 ‘naming and shaming’ on overfishing,” Toronto Star, The Canadian Press, 17 April 17 2018, https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/04/17/minister-calls-for-g7-naming-and-shaming-on-overfishing.html.

[13] Jesse Zeman, Director of Fish and Wildlife Restoration, B.C. Wildlife Federation, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Aaron Hill, Executive Director, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[16] Jesse Zeman, Director of Fish and Wildlife Restoration, B.C. Wildlife Federation, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[17] Jason Hwang, Vice-President, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[18] CPAC, “Federal government launches $647-million strategy to protect wild salmon populations – June 8, 2021,” YouTube video, 36:01, 8 June 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7N_qZXkT3Q&t=1693s, 27:11.

[19] CPAC, “Federal government launches $647-million strategy to protect wild salmon populations – June 8, 2021,” YouTube video, 36:01, 8 June 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7N_qZXkT3Q&t=1693s, 32:20.

[20] CPAC, “Federal government launches $647-million strategy to protect wild salmon populations – June 8, 2021,” YouTube video, 36:01, 8 June 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7N_qZXkT3Q&t=1693s, 26:00, 25:02, 35:20.

[21] Hon. Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Blues, 2 June 2021.

[22] Hon. Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, Blues, 2 June 2021.

[23] Aaron Hill, Executive Director, Watershed Watch Salmon Society, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[24] Jesse Zeman, Director of Fish and Wildlife Restoration, B.C. Wildlife Federation, Evidence, 23 July 2020.

[25] Darren Haskell, President, Fraser Salmon Management Council, Evidence, 5 May 2021.

[26] Jason Hwang, Vice-President, Pacific Salmon Foundation, Evidence, 23 July 2020.