I'm always disappointed when we have politicians who tend to try to drive a wedge between the scientific community and the fishermen. What we should be doing, quite frankly, is trying to get fishermen and the scientific community working more closely together, because they're your greatest ally. Rather than just taking someone's word for it, when you have more time go back and read the new Fisheries Act, and make your own judgments about it and what it does for the minister and the minister's ability to enforce the act.
We've been looking at the southern cod stocks in the gulf since I've been a member of Parliament, which has been eleven years. Everything we've seen has shown that the stock has been under pressure for that entire period of time. The cod are smaller; they're not maturing to the same size they used to.
I respect very much what they're saying, especially about the stock assessment in August. If there are no cod there in August, then we should do the assessment at a different time. And you should do that in conjunction with the scientific community out there. The other scientists on the water are the fishermen, because you observe that animal in its environment on a daily basis. So obviously you should be part of that assessment, without question. I'm not arguing that.
What I am concerned about is an economic argument about fish stocks. Using an economic argument is exactly what happened in the early nineties to the northern cod. We fished that species--the economic argument coming from the politicians and overruling, quite frankly, DFO and overruling science--to the brink of extinction. It caused horrific problems in our coastal communities and closed many of them down and shut the fishery down. So I have a real concern that the economic argument is being used.
I agree with you that if there are no cod there in August, don't do the assessment in August. But beyond that, frankly, we run the risk of this species being placed under SARA or under COSEWIC and put on a list and protected, and you'll never be able to access it. And that's a serious risk. I know that the short-term pain is horrific, but it may be the only option. Have you considered the economic argument--vis-à-vis what happened with the collapse of the cod in the early nineties--not being part of the equation?