Thank you very much. Again, it's a wonderful opportunity to get before this committee and be able to talk, so we really appreciate the time.
In the interest of time, to give you some sense of my jurisdiction of Newfoundland and Labrador, you can see on the screen that we do have a situation where we have 5% of the resource, yet 30% of the licences. That is problematic, as you can see, just by those numbers. Going down through, we also realize that some of these licences are, in actual fact, latent. That causes another difficulty.
We have at least 340 different communities that these harvesters are from. In particular, the west and south coast of our island are the most vulnerable, being the most dependent on the lobster fishery.
On income, the harvesters who are dependent on lobster in the province have the lowest income of fishers in the entire region. Of course, when we look at the numbers there as well, just skipping down through, last year we talked about landed value at something like $32 million in 2008. This year, because of not only the lower price but also a decline in the resource in some areas, this combination means that you're looking at about $16.5 million this year, which is income cut basically in half. When you're talking about these harvesters, you're talking about harvesters who made, at tops, probably $8,000 in gross income last year, and this year you're talking about $4,000.
I can only talk about the dire straits these people are finding themselves in, as now they finish up on their respective seasons.
On financing, again there are programs available, but the low incomes are the biggest problem. They're highly dependent on the fishery, and basically there's nothing else for them. We need a long-term restructuring plan in this sector that improves the viability of it.
In the short term—just now I mentioned the $4,000—income support is front and centre. Perhaps the cleanest and best way to get to that has been advocated by the harvesters, their union, and of course our jurisdiction, and that is, in the short term, improved access to the EI system, which could certainly help to alleviate the impacts of this very difficult season.
In the long term, I share the same concern as the other jurisdictions. We are talking about rationalization, but rationalization with regard to restructuring. It's not enough just to take players out. We have to make sure that in doing so, it is adding to the viability of that particular industry.
On marketing, there is no doubt, and I emphasize that marketing is key. But in the short term, right now, marketing is not going to put food on the table. What they have is an income level that can't sustain their standard of living at this particular time.
As well, there's no doubt about the sustainability of it, the certification that we need. All of those are great things in the long term. I came before Minister Shea to ask again, with regard to the program she had on the table, whether there was flexibility to meet perhaps some of the unique needs of the harvesters at this particular time. I've been given the assurance that there is flexibility, and of course now we'll go forward to see how we can present to the government a plan in the short term and the long term.
I hope I've gotten a sense across that as a region we're in this together. I'm very pleased to be standing—or sitting, I should say right now—with my colleagues, because we're all on the same page in that regard. But there are some unique circumstances throughout the region that also have to be taken into account. We're hoping the flexibility will allow that.
Having said that, Chair, I'll pass it back to our presenter.