Opening Statement to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans

Monitoring Marine Fisheries Catch—Fisheries and Oceans Canada

(Report 9—2023 Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development)

6 February 2024

Jerry V. DeMarco
Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development

Mr. Chair, thank you for this opportunity to appear before your committee to discuss our report on monitoring marine fisheries catch, which was tabled in the House of Commons on November 7th, 2023. I would like to acknowledge that this hearing is taking place on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. Joining me today are David Normand and Francis Michaud, who were responsible for the audit.

In Canada, approximately 72,000 people make their living directly from fishing and related activities. In 2021, the country’s commercial marine fisheries were valued at $4.6 billion.

As of 2022, there were 156 federally managed commercial marine fish stocks on Canada’s east and west coasts and in the Arctic. Fisheries and Oceans Canada is responsible for monitoring fish catch to ensure that these stocks are sustainably managed.

Fish catch information supports many stock management processes, including assessing fish stock health and setting seasonal fishing quotas to ensure that stocks are not depleted.

Our audit focused on whether Fisheries and Oceans Canada obtained dependable and timely fisheries catch monitoring information and whether the department used that information to sustainably manage the harvesting of commercial marine fisheries.

Overall, we found that the department was unable to collect dependable and timely data to have a full picture of the health of Canada’s fish stocks. We also found that the department did not ensure that catch data collected by third-party observers was dependable and timely.

We also found that many of the weaknesses found when we last audited this area 7 years ago remain problematic. For example, the department created the Fishery Monitoring Policy in response to a recommendation in our 2016 audit, but it had not implemented the policy or supported it with resources or an action plan.

Seven years ago, we also flagged that the department’s information management systems needed to be modernized to support the collection of dependable and timely data. We found that progress in this area has been very slow. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has spent about $31 million to implement a system that would provide ready access to data and integrate information across all its regions. However, the department’s rollout of this new system is incomplete, and the timeline for delivery has been delayed 10 years.

Without dependable and timely data on fish being caught, Fisheries and Oceans Canada does not know whether commercial stocks are being overfished. The collapse of the Atlantic cod population in the 1990s—with its far-reaching economic and social impacts—has shown that it is far more expensive and difficult to recover depleted stocks than it is to keep them healthy in the first place.

Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening statement. We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have. Thank you.