October 17, 2017 Pacheedaht First Nation Delivered by Email: Dear
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October 17, 2017 Pacheedaht First Nation <contact information removed> Delivered by email: <email address removed> Dear Chief Jones and Councillors, RE: RBT2 preliminary depth of consultation assessment for Pacheedaht - adjusted from moderate to high Thank you for your comments on the sufficiency of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority (VFPA) Marine Shipping Addendum for the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project (RBT2) dated October 31, 2016. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) sent you a letter on May 12, 2016 in response to your request to reassess the depth of consultation for Pacheedaht that is integrated in the environmental assessment process for RBT2. Based on the additional information you provided in your October 31, 2016 letter the federal review team for RBT2 has concluded that the depth of consultation for Pacheedaht should be revised to high. Our rationale is provided below along with an updated work plan for Pacheedaht’s input and comment. Also, Carrie Crull from our Participant Funding Program will be in touch shortly to discuss your funding agreement and the amount of funding that may be allocated to assist Pacheedaht with participating in the environmental assessment and associated consultation activities. Preliminary review of potential impacts We examined Pacheedaht’s right to fish at Swiftsure Bank and the assertion of Aboriginal rights and title at Swiftsure Bank. Pacheedaht’s right to fish at Swiftsure Bank forms the core of this assessment. The federal review team focused their assessment on your articulation of how marine shipping associated with RBT2 could change the practice of the right to fish at Swiftsure Bank through three potential pathways of impacts: 1. the sufficiency of resources needed to practice the right, 2. the ability to access preferred locations, with relative ease, to practice the right, and 3. the experiential changes that would happen to the landscape should RBT2 proceed. Please review the diagram below and provide us with your comments on whether we understood the information you have provided to date correctly. Please also feel free to add considerations that are not captured in our understanding below. This information is what we considered when assessing what pathways of impacts the additional ship traffic from RBT2 may have on the exercise of Pacheedaht’s fishing rights at Swiftsure Bank. This is not the Crown’s determination of the content or validity of the Pacheedaht’s rights; rather it is our understanding for the purposes of considering how the shipping associated with RBT2 could impact the exercise of the right as articulated by Pacheedaht. Canadian Environmental Agence canadienne Assessment Agency d'evaluation environnementale 1+1 Resources Experience -It's an important place because people can go out and know they will get abundant resources there. A - Container traffic has the potential to disturb Pacheedaht's connection to the lands and waters harvest there can provide families with fish for the year. Fishers move in response to where the feed and ·There are short windows in which P.lcheedaht fish and during that time needing to watch for the fish are, this changes seasonally and annually. The nutrient bloom changed last year so Pacheedaht increased traffic takes away from fishing time had to adjust where they were fishing. • There ar!! foggy days where you can only hear ships, not s!!e anything. Thes~> days it affects th!! - It is Important as a nursery area, for old growth rockfish, sun fish and humpback. It's important ability to fish because you have to move to other locations. This creates barriers for members to because the underwater formation there causes an upwelling off the bank. fish because of safety concerns. They have to charter boats, which costs $1000 a day to be safe on - Swifsure Bank is closed to commercial and sport fishers but not Aboriginal fishers. In order to protect the water. There is seasonal fog during fishing season· April to September is the most intensive the right to fish, Pacheedaht wants to protect the resources needed to practice that right. fishing time. -A putter fleet (14-20 foot canoes with motors} used to be -Past impacts include depletiOn of key spec1es (ex. Whaling and sealing), used to go out to Swiftsure, now bigger boats are needed for policies that restrict access and exercise of rights. Shipping traffic Pacheedaht's Right to Fish safety. 25 years ago people would be out there in a canoe that through this area impacts the species living there. had a cabin built onto it with a 10 horsepower motor. -Vessel noise Is likely to have negative effects on marine resources - There is no other area that is as productive and of cultural significance • Pacheedaht fishers rely on each other for calling-in issues on that are culturally important to Pacheedaht, including fish and manne as Swiftsure Bank. Swiftsure Bank is therefore is not a preferred their hand held VHFs and chec king on each other. Coast Guard mammals. location but rather 1S essential to maintain access and use for the is far away, there might be limited options for emergency - The risk of vessel strikes on marine mammals, including killer whales, Nation. Pacheedaht fishes heavily in and around J-buoy, but have a response because it's remote out there. will increase. whole web of sites at Swiftsure . - Big ships aren't following guidelines of where to be in the -Wakes from the increased ship traffic could damage i ntertidal and - Pacheedaht fisheries department manages Swiftsure Bank for food, shipping lanes. shoreline habitat, which 1s where Pacheedaht members harvest many social and ceremonial fishing for their nation and other nations through -Moving the anchor (to fish the Pacheedaht anchor at preferred species. traditional protocol arrangements. Pacheedaht has cla 1med shared Swiftsure and fish with rod and reel, they noted that Ditidaht -Container traffic has the potential to contaminate or damage Aboriginal title (with Makah and Dltidaht) to Swiftsu re Bank. will run longllnes to fish out there sometimes} will disrupt resources and habitat relied upon for the exercise of Pacheedaht's -Elders teach youth at Swiftsure Bank. There is a spiritual element to fishing to move if a ship is coming toward them. It ta kes a harvesting rights in the event of an accident or malfunction resulting in going out and getting what you need and sharing that with your family while to get set back up again and if the fish are biting it takes the release of bunker fuel or other contaminants. - Pacheedaht's interests in Swiftsure and trade go back to the 1700s all the concentration to get the fish up, it's hard to pay -Key species at Swiftsure that are unique Include Pacific when there are accounts of them selling fish to Spanish explorers on attention to the AIS. Grey Cod and Sablefish. the bank. There is an economic and trade aspect to the right as - Ships w ill honk if fishing Pacheedaht has licences and a commerc•al neet. Access -Swiftsure Bank is prone to fog, which can cause safety concerns for small ships navigating in the shipping lane, such as when they encounter unexpected ship wake, which can be up to 6ft depending on weather. If it's foggy, you can't tell which direction t he wake w ill come from. -Equipment, such as radios, is an important tool to enable small vessels to adhere to safe practices on the water within a shipping lane. Pacheedaht has raised concerns about the costs of such equipment to community members. Pacheedaht can't always use cell phones unless they are on a US contract because there is no cell signal in Port Renfrew and not often a signal out at Swiftsure. This lack of cell signal also impedes use of web based safety apps like BoatTracker or looking online for where t he big ships are. - Pacheedaht Fisheries issues licences to other Nations to be able to fish within Pacheedaht territory. They have issued licences for Nations from Micmac to Haida to Wisconsin through their intertribal fisheries protocol. The f ish allocat ions come out of other Nation's quota, and Pachecdaht reports the fish caught back to DFO. Pacheedaht encourages other Nations to go out together in groups if they don't know the area for safety reasons. OFO knows when there is a Pacheedaht member in the closed area because Pacheedaht Fisheries lets OFO know and they fly a Pacheedaht flag. - In 2005 the out bound shipping lane was moved north, such t hat it now intersects Swiftsure Bank and other hereditary fishing grounds. -The Indian Reserve Commissioner choose the reserve location for Cullite because it allowed quick easy access for Pacheedaht to Swiftsure. · There are Pacheedaht members on reserve (about 100) and other members living in Victoria, Vancouver and Seattle that rely on Swiftsure fishing for food and cultural purposes. People come back to the community for 'salmon days'. This means t hat when people are home, they have a small window that depends on the weather during which they can get out to Sw iftsure. lf a ship disrupts t hem during this time they might not have another day when they can get the fish they need for the year. Usually during a charter, one person from four or five families will be on the boat and w ill fish for their families. - When fishing for halibut, it takes about an hour after the bait goes down for the fish to come in towards the smell. The halibut bite during the slack tid e, when the tide not rushing past. At non-slack tid e, the fish tend to hunker down on the ocean floor and wait because the water is moving so quickly that it could sweep them away.