Question Period Note: Small Craft Harbours

What is the Government doing to support Canada’s Small Craft Harbours?

• From coast to coast to coast, Fisheries and Oceans Canada owns, operates, and maintains a national system of harbours where 90 per cent of Canadian seafood is landed.
• Through Budget 2021, our government provided $300 million over two years to repair, renew, and replace small craft harbours. Maintaining these harbours allows the Government to provide commercial fish harvesters and other small craft harbour users with safe and accessible facilities.

• As of August 2022, the Small Craft Harbours (SCH) program was responsible for 973 harbours:
o 675 core fishing harbours; and
o 298 non-core fishing harbours.
• SCH provide key support to the commercial fishing industry. The SCH program keeps the harbours that are critical to the fishing industry open and in good repair.
• In Budget 2021, the Government announced it would provide $300 million over the next two years to repair, renew, and replace SCH.
• Approximately 90 per cent of the Canadian fish harvest is landed at harbours operated through the SCH program. The value of landings in Canada in 2019 was estimated at approximately $3.7 billion.
• Another key objective of the SCH program is to transfer ownership of designated harbours to third parties, particularly those that are not widely used by fishers or that are focused primarily on recreational boating.
• The SCH Program is delivered in cooperation with Harbour Authorities, local not-for-profit organizations representing the interests of local commercial fishers and the broader community.
• Each year, more than 5,000 volunteers assist the program.

If pressed on funding for specific harbours
• My department uses a prioritization process to determine where projects move forward at our harbours.
• Departmental staff evaluate all potential repairs and investments, and prioritizes them according to:
o Safety and security implications;
o Operational needs to address issues like overcrowding and dredging; and
o Socio-economic factors such as the level of activity at a given harbour and the impact on the local community should we not move forward with the proposed work.