We do not know. It could have been small cod or all kinds of things. We simply do not know. Why do we not know? Because we do not have the guts to stand up to the foreigners and tell them to stop overfishing our stocks.
We have the ability, we have the right and we have the responsibility to protect those fish stocks for all of mankind. All we are asking is that the government emplace custodial management in the fishery. If that is done we will not kick out the foreigners. We basically will tell them that they can fish but they will fish under Canadian management rules. They will fish and we will check the holds. We will make sure they catch only what they are allowed to catch and then they will leave. If we do that, very clearly we will look after the situation.
As well, there is the situation of seals. It has been brought up many times. In a seal report by the member for Miramichi, who was our chairperson, we said we needed to develop markets for seal products. What is the government going to do? It is going to spend $6 million to study how seals eat cod. In order to harvest the seals in a sustainable manner in a way such that we can export that great product, we need to develop markets around the world. That would be a wise investment in terms of reducing the seal population. To announce a cull of seals would be disastrous for the rest of the industry.
I do not know what else I can say except that I am very upset by and disappointed with the decision of the minister. He had options. He said it was based on science, but his own scientists say they ran out of money to complete the surveys.
They did not even include catch data from fishermen in his report. Yet he still decided to get rid of it. That only leads me to conclude that they want to eliminate the independent fisherman and his family and turn it over to the corporate sector. If they are going to do that, they might as well have the courage to say so.
In the end, I want to congratulate the people in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec for what they are going through and for keeping their heads held high. I can assure everyone on behalf of my party and the colleagues of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans that we will do what we can to try to convince the minister, his department and the Prime Minister to change their minds, to go back to the people in Newfoundland and Labrador, listen to them and input the policies and regulations that the all party committee had stated we should do. If they do that, it will go a long, great way.