FISHERIES JOINT MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
ANNUAL REPORT
2005-06
Contents
FOREWORD ................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 4 COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES........................................................................................... 4 Consultation and Planning .................................................................................................................. 4 Research and Monitoring.................................................................................................................... 5 Hydrocarbon Development................................................................................................................. 6 Beluga Management and Pilot Marine Protected Areas..................................................................... 6 Emerging Commercial Fisheries ........................................................................................................ 6 COSEWIC and Species-at-Risk Legislation....................................................................................... 6 Communications ................................................................................................................................. 7 Student Mentoring Program and Inuvialuit Youth ............................................................................. 7
FUNDING........................................................................................................................ 8 APPENDIX A ................................................................................................................ 12
Annual Report 2005-06
FOREWORD The Inuvialuit Final Agreement sets out the terms of the contract between the Committee for Original Peoples’ Entitlement, representing the Inuvialuit of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and the Government of Canada, representing all citizens of Canada. As outlined in that Agreement, the Fisheries Joint Management Committee was established to provide advice to the Inuvialuit and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) on fishery management and related issues within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. During the reporting year, the Fisheries Joint Management Committee continued to work closely with government agencies, renewable resource user groups, and resource councils and committees established under the Agreement and by other land claim settlements on a variety of activities and programs. This report provides a summary of the Committee’s activities for the fiscal year commencing April 2005 and concluding March 2006.
COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP Chairman Robert Bell
Members Ron Allen (Acting) Lawrence Amos Burton Ayles Max Kotokak Sr. IGC Alternate Members Billy Day Lorna Dillon (to September, 2005) Ron Gruben (from September, 2005)
Resource Biologists Kevin Bill Andrea Hoyt
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Annual Report 2005-06
INTRODUCTION Canada’s Minister of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) established the Fisheries Joint Management Committee (FJMC) in 1986, as required by the Inuvialuit Final Agreement (IFA). The FJMC has the following responsibilities: (1) to assist Canada and the Inuvialuit in administering the rights and obligations related to fisheries under the IFA, (2) to assist the Minister in carrying out his responsibilities for the management of fisheries and marine mammals in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR), and (3) to advise the Minister on all matters relating to Inuvialuit and ISR fisheries. The specific responsibilities of the FJMC are provided in Appendix A. The Committee maintains an office at the Joint Secretariat in Inuvik, and employs two resource biologists to manage its programs.
COMMITTEE ACTIVITIES Consultation and Planning In keeping with the co-management philosophy of the IFA, consultation with local Hunters’ and Trappers’ Committees (HTCs), the Inuvialuit Game Council (IGC), the DFO, and other government agencies formed an important part of the Committee’s activities. The Committee held 6 regular meetings, 8 teleconferences and 1 special meeting, as well as public meetings in Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok (Holman) in June and Inuvik and Sachs Harbour in November to discuss with hunters and fishers issues of concern related to fish, marine mammals, and research priorities for the region. One of the regular meetings was held in Winnipeg at the DFO’s Freshwater Institute to facilitate information exchange and project planning with the Department’s scientific and management staff. The process by which the FJMC sets its research priorities and develops a work plan is unique among Inuvialuit Joint Implementing Bodies. Community meetings in June and November, discussions with scientific staff at the Freshwater Institute in January and Committee planning sessions in March, all comprise the essential elements in the Committee’s annual work plan and budgeting cycle for the next fiscal year.
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Annual Report 2005-06
Research and Monitoring The FJMC was active in numerous research, monitoring, and management programs in 2005-06. A total of 27 projects were conducted through joint efforts between the FJMC and DFO. Support continues for char monitoring projects in Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok that provide information for existing community-based char fishing plans for the Hornaday and Kuujjua rivers near Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok respectively. Also in support of the Hornaday plan, the Committee continues to contribute to a baseline water quality and quantity monitoring project for that river system. The FJMC continued to support the West Side Working Group in its efforts to develop a community-driven integrated fishing plan for the Yukon North Slope and West Side rivers from the Big Fish River west to Fish Creek near the Alaskan border. The Working Group continues to assemble critical scientific and traditional knowledge information on North Slope fisheries, information that will form the foundation of the developing management plan. The West Side Working Group also set as research priorities the monitoring of char harvests from Shingle Point, which began in 2005-06, and the tagging of Dolly Varden char at Shingle Point and along the Yukon North Slope. Following preliminary planning in 2004-05, a community-based monitoring program of the Big Fish River has been initiated, involving elders and youth from the community of Aklavik, along with DFO and FJMC staff. The Committee also contributed to an ongoing project designed to monitor the reproductive status and condition of ringed seals in Amundsen Gulf. In 2004-05, the project was expanded to include monitoring in Sachs Harbour, which continued in 2005-06. The quality of country foods also continues to be a significant concern for the communities. Therefore, the allocation of funds for research involving the collection of samples from harvested marine mammals (including ringed seals and beluga) for contaminant and disease analysis was continued. In addition to annual research project funding, the Committee also supported long-term harvest monitoring programs that provide essential harvest data required by the Committee and DFO biologists as a basis for making sound management decisions. In co-operation with the HTCs, the FJMC delivers the beluga harvest monitoring program. Local Inuvialuit whale monitors employed by HTCs are stationed in each of the active whaling camps within the ISR. They collect biological information from each harvested whale. Committee staff provided training, program and logistic support, coordination of special sample collections, and data collation. Monitors also keep track of aircraft traffic over whale camps and submit detailed incident reports in cases where aircraft may have harassed or disturbed whales and/or harvesters. At season’s end, these harassment incident reports were turned over to DFO Conservation and Protection for follow-up with air charter companies as required. Following the cancellation of the Inuvialuit Harvest Study, the Committee continued its support of the collection of Inuvialuit subsistence fisheries harvest data by DFO in 2005-06. In accordance with Section 14.(64) of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the Committee continued with FJMC’s Private Lands Sport Fishing Registry. The promotional campaign initiated in 2001-02 to better educate the fishing public was continued with the renewal of large wall displays at major air and road travel gateways into the ISR; the provision of private lands wall maps for all fishing licence vendors and HTCs in the region; the reprinting and distribution of information brochures to vendors and HTCs; and the placement of advertisements in NWT Explorers Guide / Guide to Hunting and Fishing in the Northwest Territories and the Beaufort Delta Attractions Guide. In order to facilitate the distribution of information related to research within the ISR, the reactivated FJMC Technical Report series was continued. Several reports were published and distributed, as well as posted on the Committee’s website, with several more currently being finalized and released during the 2006-07 fiscal year.
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Annual Report 2005-06
Hydrocarbon Development The FJMC continues to be well positioned to provide sound advice on issues related to accelerating oil and gas industry activities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. The Committee and staff have been regular participants in pre-submission community and agency consultations by industry. Prior to every Screening meeting, the Committee continues to review all proposals before EISC that have the potential to impact on fish, marine mammals, and/or aquatic habitat in the ISR, including those related to oil and gas. The Committee is also a registered intervener in the review of the proposed Mackenzie Gas Project, for both the Joint Review Panel and National Energy Board review processes. All correspondence relating to the review is forwarded to FJMC and scanned by staff; relevant information is brought to the Committee. The Committee presented an opening statement at the start of the Joint Review Panel hearings in Inuvik in March 2006, with plans to give presentations and submit formal interventions into the process in 2006-07.
Beluga Management and Pilot Marine Protected Areas The FJMC continued its support of the Beaufort Sea Integrated Management Planning Initiative (BSIMPI) in cooperation with the DFO. This multi-stakeholder initiative is being facilitated through a Working Group that includes representatives from FJMC, DFO, Inuvialuit Game Council, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, Indian and Northern Affairs, and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. The group conducted community consultations throughout 2005-06 to finalize support for the marine protected area under the Oceans Act. The draft Tarium Niryutait MPA Management Plan and regulatory intent were completed, approved by the BSIMPI Senior Management Committee and Working Group, and sent to Ottawa for formal drafting and Ministerial approval. Once established, the FJMC will take over the day-to-day MPA management responsibility and operations, with support from DFO and the BSIMPI Secretariat.
Emerging Commercial Fisheries In response to increasing interest by business entities from outside the region to develop a commercial fisheries in the Beaufort Sea, the Committee has continued to work closely with the DFO and the Inuvialuit Game Council to lay the foundations for developing a regionally managed, sustainable commercial fisheries in the Beaufort that will benefit Inuvialuit economically while not adversely impact traditional subsistence harvesting activities. Two southern fishing companies applied for and received licences for exploratory fishing operations, in partnership with a local Inuvialuit business, in order to ensure full Inuvialuit participation in any future commercial fishing ventures. No fishing activities took place in 2005-06, but there are plans to return in 2006-07.
COSEWIC and Species-at-Risk Legislation With the Species at Risk Act given Royal Assent on December 12, 2002, the Committee has taken a more active role in insuring Inuvialuit involvement in the protection of endangered fish and marine mammal species. The FJMC will continue to work with COSEWIC to better define the Committee’s role in the federal assessment process for endangered species under the Committee’s jurisdiction. The Committee participated in the preliminary stages of reassessment of several species in 2005-06.
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Annual Report 2005-06
Communications The FJMC continues to develop its existing website (www.fjmc.ca) as a means to better inform the public, government, and industry about FJMC and fisheries co-management in the ISR. A variety of FJMC reports and other materials are available on the site for downloading by interested parties. The FJMC reaches Inuvialuit beneficiaries within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region through its annual ISR community tour and regular contributions to the Joint Secretariat-Inuvialuit Renewable Resource Committee’s newsletter, the JS Common Ground. The newsletter is distributed to every registered Inuvialuit beneficiary each summer and winter.
Student Mentoring Program and Inuvialuit Youth FJMC’s Student Mentoring Program returned for its ninth successful season in 2005-06. The Program began with 7 students, with 6 students (3 from Inuvik, 1 from Tuktoyaktuk, and one from Ulukhaktok) completing the term. The program continued work placement partnerships with Fisheries & Oceans Canada, Parks Canada, the Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study (CASES), Canadian Wildlife Service, the Gwich’in Renewable Resource Board, and continued funding relationships with GNWT Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE), Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and Enbridge Inc., and also received new funding from Nasivvik Centre for Inuit Health and Changing Environments. The FJMC Mentoring Program is offered in partnership with DFO and is designed to encourage Inuvialuit youth to finish high school and continue with their studies in the sciences so that they can become the ISR’s future resource managers and biologists. 2005-06 saw the largest-ever group of students to participate in the Mentoring Program, and the FJMC were especially pleased with the high level of commitment shown by all students; and “out of town” (non-Inuvik) students once again participating through the summer. The FJMC also participated in a regional career fair – Career Quest 2006 – with the FJMC tradeshow display and presentations to several groups of interested students. FJMC staff and Mentoring Students were available to answer questions about the Mentoring Program from junior and senior high school students from around the Beaufort-Delta Region.
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Annual Report 2005-06
FUNDING Funding of all renewable resource-related activities associated with the implementation of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement is provided by Canada and coordinated by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND). Until the current year funding has been allocated in 5-year blocks, with 2005-06 representing the second year of what is described as a 10-year funding commitment. In the case of the FJMC, while the overall process is coordinated by DIAND, DFO is responsible for developing budget forecasts for the blocks for submission to Treasury Board. The resulting allocations for the FJMC become part of the Department’s annual budget. A portion of the funds are categorized as “Operations and Maintenance” while the balance is identified as “Grants and Contributions”. As a result, two funding mechanisms support the activities of the FJMC. First, for those activities described in the previous section under Research and Monitoring, while the projects and their budgets are identified by the FJMC, the funds to support the projects are administered by DFO. This arrangement is efficient since, for the most part, the projects are carried out by DFO staff. Table 1 lists projects and activities supported through this process for the reporting year. The operational activities of the Committee, as well as some specific tasks identified in the IFA, are funded through a contribution agreement between DIAND and the Joint Secretariat. These costs, which include Inuvialuit participation costs, chair costs and salary and operational costs for the Committee’s biologists, are detailed in Table 2. These funds are the subject of an annual audit.
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Annual Report 2005-06
Table 1.
Projects funded through the FJMC budget process with the funds being administered by Fisheries and Oceans Canada during 2005-06.
Title
Manager
Amount
Canada Members
Boraski
$68,000
Support Funds
Boraski
$40,000
Mercury in western Arctic marine mammals
Stern
$41,400
Diseased Marine Mammal Sampling Project
Nielsen
$17,000
Reist
$12,000
Beluga Survival Analysis
Ferguson
$10,000
Reproduction and Condition of ringed seals at Sachs Harbour, NT
Harwood
$16,000
Reproduction and Condition of ringed seals at Holman, NT Assessment of the potential effects of industry activity on ringed and bearded seals in the nearshore Beaufort Sea Assessment of the parasites and disease of beluga whales taken in the regular harvest at Kendall Island An assessment of the fishery resource and habitats of Brock Lake, NT and adjacent lake in Tuktut Nogait National Park An assessment of the fishery resource and habitats of Tributary One, NT
Harwood
$26,000
Harwood
$10,000
Harwood
$17,000
Harwood
$10,000
Harwood
$53,000
Charr Monitoring at Fish Lake, NT
Harwood
$15,000
Charr Monitoring at Hornaday River, NT
Harwood
$15,000
Monitoring Water Quality and Quantity at the Hornaday River, NT Pacific Salmon Collection and Sampling in Relation to Western Arctic Global Change Shingle Point Harvest Study
Harwood
$10,000
Hiebert
$9,000
Hiebert
$6,500
Climate Change Impacts, Management Issues and Monitoring for Arctic Char
Hornaday River Char Fishing Plan
Hiebert
$15,000
Holman Char Fishing Plan and Community Consultations
Hiebert
$10,000
Holman, Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk Harvest Studies
Hiebert
$22,000
Mackenzie River Inuvik Netting Project Study of Beluga seasonal range and ecology Sachs Harbour Char Study
Heibert
$3,000
Richard Hiebert or Harwood
$10,000 $12,000
$447,900
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Annual Report 2005-06 Table 2.
Funds provided through the Joint Secretariat contribution agreement
JOINT SECRETARIAT INUVIALUIT RENEWABLE RESOURCE COMMITTEES SCHEDULE OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE Fisheries Joint Management Committee Operations For the Year Ended March 31, 2006
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Annual Report 2005-06
Table 2.
Continued from previous page.
JOINT SECRETARIAT INUVIALUIT RENEWABLE RESOURCE COMMITTEES SCHEDULE OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE Fisheries Joint Management Committee Operations – Cont’d For the Year Ended March 31, 2006
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Annual Report 2005-06
APPENDIX A FJMC Responsibilities As described under Section 14(64) of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement, the Fisheries Joint Management Committee shall, among its other activities: (a) review information on the state of fishing in waters on 7(1 )(a) and 7(1 )(b) lands and Crown lands in any areas where the Inuvialuit have an interest and fishery related activities on7(l)(a) and 7(1 )(b) lands; (b) identify areas of waters on 7(1 )(a) and 7(1 )(b) lands where fishing has taken place and predict where fishing may in the future take place; (c) determine current harvest levels; (d) develop, maintain and control a public registration system for fishing in waters on 7(1 )(a) and 7fl)(b) lands and for entry on 7(1 )(b) lands for the purpose of fishing; (e) restrict and regulate the public right to enter on 7(1 )(b) lands for the purpose of fishing where such restriction and regulation is required for the conservation of a stock, to prevent serious conflict with Inuvialuit activities, to prevent interference with other Inuvialuit use of the land to which they have title or to prevent unreasonable interference with Inuvialuit use and enjoyment of the land; (f) deny entry to persons who abuse the right; (g) allocate subsistence quotas among communities; (h) determine the reporting requirements and review the role of “the Hunters and Trappers Committees in regulating the subsistence harvest and collection of harvest statistics; (i) make recommendations to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on subsistence quotas for fish, harvestable quotas for marine mammals, Inuvialuit commercial fishing, allocation of the preferential fishing licences to be granted under subsections (29) to (32), regulations regarding sport and commercial fishing in waters on 7(1 )(a) and (b) lands and the identification of waters where such fishing may be prohibited; and (j) advise the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on regulations, research policies and administration of fisheries generally affecting the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and on any new international agreements being developed that might apply to Inuvialuit fisheries.
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