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I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 56 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. This meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of June 23, 2022.

Before we proceed, I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of witnesses and members. Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike, and please mute yourself when you are not speaking. There is interpretation for those on Zoom. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel. Please address all comments through the chair. Taking screenshots or photos of your screen is not permitted. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.

Finally, I remind everyone that the use of a House-approved headset is mandatory for remote participation in parliamentary proceedings. If a virtual participant is not wearing an appropriate headset, interpretation cannot be provided and therefore the person will not be able to participate in the committee proceedings.

In accordance with the committee's routine motion concerning connection tests for witnesses, I'm informing the committee that all witnesses have completed the required connection tests in advance of the meeting.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on January 18, 2022, the committee is commencing its study of the ecosystem impacts and the management of pinniped populations.

I would like to welcome our first panel of witnesses, from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. We have Jennifer Buie, acting director general, fisheries resource management; Mike Hammill, scientist emeritus, Quebec region; Bernard Vigneault, director general, ecosystem science directorate; Dr. Mansour, regional director, science, Newfoundland and Labrador region, by video conference; and Andrew Thomson, regional director, science, Pacific region, by video conference.

Thank you all for taking the time to appear today. You have five minutes for an opening statement and I believe Mr. Vigneault is going to provide that opening statement.

Go ahead whenever you're ready.

Thank you. That was right on the mark for five minutes.

We'll now go to our rounds of questioning.

We will start off with Mr. Small for six minutes or less.

Thank you, Mr. Small. You're a little bit over time, but not much.

We'll now go to Mr. Morrissey for six minutes or less, please.

Thank you, Mr. Morrissey.

We'll now go to Madame Desbiens.

The floor is yours for six minutes.

You're six minutes are up, Madam Desbiens.

We'll now go to Ms. Barron for six minutes or less.

Thank you, Ms. Barron.

We'll now go to Mr. Perkins, first, and he's going to share his time with Mr. Arnold. I will leave it up to him when he does that. I know the last time he did, he wasn't very sharing, but we'll try and keep an eye on him this time.

For five minutes or less, sir, when you're ready.

Yes. Thanks, Mel.

We'll now go to Mr. Cormier for five minutes or less, please.

Thank you. If there's an answer to that question, could you please provide it in writing?

We'll now go to Madam Desbiens for two and a half minutes, please.

Thank you.

We'll now go to Ms. Barron for two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, please.

We'll now go to Mr. Bragdon for five minutes or less.

Go ahead, please.

Thank you, Mr. Arnold.

We'll go to Mr. Hardie now for one question to finish out this first hour of our committee.

Thank you.

I want to say thank you to our witnesses for appearing today. The department is always very co-operative with this committee, and officials are here when we need them. I'm sure we'll be calling you back before this study is over. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

We'll take a couple of moments to suspend, while we switch over to another set of witnesses.

I call the meeting back to order.

I'll make a few comments for the benefit of the new witnesses.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike, and please mute it when you are not speaking.

For interpretation for those on Zoom, you have the choice, at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.

All comments should be addressed through the chair.

Finally, as a reminder, the use of a House-approved headset is mandatory for all virtual participants in parliamentary proceedings.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses. Appearing as an individual by video conference, we have Murdoch McAllister, associate professor at the University of British Columbia. Representing the Reconseal Inuksiuti, we have Ruben Komangapik, co-chief executive officer, and Yoanis Menge, co-chief executive officer.

Thank you for taking the time to appear today. You each have five minutes for an opening statement.

We'll go to Mr. McAllister first, please.

Thank you for that.

We'll now go to Mr. Lansbergen for five minutes.

Thank you for that.

We'll now go to our witnesses in the room. I don't know if both of you are sharing the five minutes, or if one of you is doing the five-minute opening statement.

When you're ready, you can start.