-71.cd'eoil LIME DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES CANADA Being the Ninety-Seventh Annual Fisheries Report of the Government of Canada © Crown Copyrights reserved Available by mail from the Queen's Printer, Ottawa, and at the following Canadian Government bookshops: OTTAWA Daly Building, Corner Mackenzie and Rideau TORONTO Mackenzie Building, 36 Adelaide St. East MONTREAL Aeterna- Vie Building, 1182 St. Catherine St. West or through your bookseller A deposit copy of this publication is also available for reference in public libraries across Canada Price $1.25 Catalogue No. Fs 1-1963 Price subject to change without notice ROGER DUHAMEL, F.R.S.C. Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationery Ottawa, Canada 1964 To His Excellency Major-General Georges P. Vanier, D.S.O., M.C., C.D., Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada May it Please Your Excellency: I have the honour herewith, for the information of Your Excellency and the Parliament of Canada,, to present the Annual Report of the Department of Fisheries for the year 1963, and the financial statement of the Department for the fiscal year 1963-64. Respectfully submitted, Minister of Fisheries. To the Honourable H. J. Robichaud, M.P., Minister of Fisheries, Ottawa, Canada. Sir: I submit herewith the Ann.ual Report of the Department of Fisheries for the year 1963, and the financial statements of the Department for the fiscal, year 1963-1964. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant Deputy Minister. CONTENTS PAGE Obituary: George R. Clark 7 Introduction 9 Conservation and Development Service 11 Departmental Vessels 39 Inspection Service 41 Economics Service 50 Information and Consumer Service 53 Industrial Development Service 57 Fishermen's Indemnity Plan 63 Fisheries Prices Support Board 65 Fisheries Research Board of Canada 67 International Commissions 78 Special Committees 91 The Fishing Industry 93 Statistics of the Fisheries 98 APPENDICES 1. Financial Statements, 1963-1964 2. Fish Culture Development Statements VIII 5 George R. Clark The Department of Fisheries of Canada suffered a severe loss on February 12, 1963 in the sudden death in Tokyo of its Deputy Minister, George R. Clark, at the age of 54. Mr. Clark, who was in Japan as head of the Canadian delegation at a meeting of the International North Pacific Fisheries Commission, of which he was chair- man, succumbed to a heart seizure. At the time of his death he was chairman not only of the North Pacific Com- mission, but of the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries and the International Whaling Commission. He was also vice-chairman of the North Pacific Fur Seal Commission and had served as chairman of the Interna- tional Pacific Halibut Commission, the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Com- mission and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. In Canada, he was chairman of both the Federal-Provincial Atlantic Fisheries Committee and the Federal- Provincial Committee for Ontario Fisheries. Before he joined the Department of Fisheries as Director of Western and Inland Fisheries in 1948, Mr. Clark had been associated with the fishing industry in British Columbia for nearly twenty years, and had served in executive capacities with the British Columbia Salt Fish Board and the Salmon Canners' Operating Committee. During the war he was liaison officer with the Mobilization Board for British Columbia on behalf of the fishing industry of that province. Immediately before joining the Department, he was manager of personnel and industrial relations for the Canadian Fishing Company, Ltd., in Vancouver. In April, 1950, Mr. Clark was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister, and Deputy Minister in December, 1954. On the national fisheries scene, he did much to bring about a better understanding of fisheries, and was largely responsible for bringing together governmental and industrial fisheries agencies across Canada, so that a co-ordinated program for the betterment of the fisheries generally could be implemented. Mr. Clark was succeeded as Deputy Minister by Dr. A. W. H. Needler, who moved to Ottawa from his post as Director, Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Biological Station, Nanaimo, B.C. 7 INTRODUCTION 4 ACH YEAR Canada's commercial fishermen take an increasing catch from F the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and from great inland fishing areas to meet domestic and foreign needs for protein food. The per capita consumption within the country is relatively low; sixty-eight per cent of the 1963 production was exported, making Canada one of the world's leading providers of fishery products. "Fish", under the Fisheries Act, includes shellfish, crustaceans and sea mam- mals, as well as the true fishes, and the Department's involvement with all species is dealt with in this report. The 1963 landings of all species amounted to more than one million, one hundred and twenty-five thousand tons, worth close ot $129 million to the primary industry and about $255 million marketed. (See "The Fishing Industry", page e, for details.) In addition sports fishermen, in numbers which have increased spectacularly in the past few years, have taken huge quantities of fish from fresh and tidal waters. The size of the catch in the sport fishery is difficult to assess, for obvious reasons, but it has become an important factor to be considered in the manage- ment of the fisheries resource. Stocks of all fish are vulnerable to exploitation, no matter how inexhaustible they may seem, and certain species which are in heavy demand are being fished, in international waters, by many nations. Fishing fleets are becoming exceedingly efficient in locating fish and catching techniques are undergoing constant improve- ment. The pressures in some areas of the high seas are so great that international commissions have been established to conserve stocks while allowing the maximum possible exploitation. A chapter of this report deals with Canada's participation in the work of these commissions. Other factors affect the marine and freshwater fisheries, of course, such as man-made changes in and around fishing grounds and spawning streams, and these have created a need for intensive scientific research and the applications of the findings reached. The federal Government, under the British North America Act, has legis- lative jurisdiction in coastal and inland fisheries. By agreement, some of the provinces have accepted, to a greater or lesser degree, the administration of the fisheries within their boundaries. The province of Quebec is the only one to administer all its fisheries, both freshwater and marine but fish inspection in Quebec is a federal responsibility. The provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskat- chewan and Alberta assume responsibility for the freshwater species, but in areas such as Hudson Bay and James Bay the federal Government deals with all marine problems. In British Columbia the Government of Canada is responsible for marine and anadromous fish and the province has charge of the purely fresh- water species. In Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories the federal Government exercises complete administrative as well as legislative control of all species, both marine and freshwater. The Department, from its Ottawa headquarters, directs its operations through regional headquarters for the Pacific, Central, Quebec, Maritimes and Newfound- 9 land Areas. These area offices are in Vancouver, Winnipeg, Quebec, Halifax and St. John's. The working force in the field is made up of Protection Officers ashore and afloat, Inspection Officers, biologists, engineers and technicians and special- ized employees doing economic research, instructional and informational work, consumer education and industrial research and experimentation. This report also covers the operations of the Fisheries Prices Support Board, the Fishermen's Indemnity Plan and the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. The Prices Support Board and the Research Board issue separate Annual Reports covering their activities in greater detail. British Columbia cannery worker holding a 73-pound spring salmon. CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICE z-, C ONTINUITY in conservation and developmental projects for the fisheries ,1‘ of Canada can be achieved only by the anticipation of new problems and .1. careful advance planning. This calls for a joint program in which this Service's i t two branches, Fish Culture and Protection, must completely blend technical and 1 , administrative sldlls to meet present and foreseeable emergencies. The brief sum- .: mary in this chapter outlines the accomplishments of 1963 and the results hoped i‘ 1 for in the future. 1 t In British Columbia, the engineering and biological work of the Fish Culture tl1 Development Branch continued to expand during the year even though only ! minor staff changes were made. The two main functions of the Branch are to devise 1 facilities to protect the fisheries resource from the effects of industrial and other water-use projects, to expand it by the use of techniques developed through research and to assist with the management of the salmon fishery. There was increased activity in each of these fields. The expanding economy and favourable conditions for export gave rise to pulp mill expansion programs as well as to plans for a number of new mills. Some of the proposed mills are, for the first time, to be located in the interior of the province on salmon producing streams. They could create critical pollution problems. In addition, there has been an increase in logging effort which has required constant vigilance and ingenuity to ensure protection of salmon spawning and rearing areas. Mining has also benefited from the favourable economic conditions and many proposals for new mines as well as for reactivating old ones have been studied. Pollution studies have therefore become one of the main activities of the Branch in the field of protection of the fisheries resource. On the Atlantic coast, the scope of the work of the Fish Culture Develop- ment Branch could conceivably include all species of our fisheries and could aspire to stabilize or increase the populations of all species involved.