When the extension of jurisdiction took place in 1978 and the foreign fishers were moved out, the Canadian fleet represented about one-twentieth of the size of the fleet that was moved out from the northern cod, for example. At that time, with the heavy investment across the board by many people in eastern Canada, it was certainly our hope that there was going to be an increase in the resource as a result of the extension of jurisdiction.
We did not want to fish the northern cod after the foreigners were moved outside, for the simple reason that we were looking down the road and at the investments that had been made. We could not maintain viability with the catch rates as they were, so we were looking for an increase. But the same minister whom you are mentioning, Mr. Kamp, provided a subsidy of $23,800 for the Canadian fleet that existed to go to the northern cod and fish it. I can assure you that I and two others who were heavily involved in the fishery went and sat with him for four hours to try to dissuade him from offering this $23,800 subsidy for a trawler from Nova Scotia to go to Hamilton Inlet banks.
That was the beginning. The foreigners had done an enormous job on it already, but this effort certainly did not help; I agree with you on that one. But I can assure you that this is how it came about.
Let me read for you, Mr. Kamp, since you brought this up, from the policy for Canada's commercial fisheries, from 1976. We're talking about the same minister. Here is the piece of work. I have it in a yellowed copy because I've had it for 20 years. I'll read it for you:
The strategies adopted [for fisheries policies] reflect a fundamental redirection in the government's policy for fishery management and development. Although commercial fishing has long been a highly regulated activity in Canada, the object of regulation has, with rare exception, been protection of the renewable resource. In other words, fishing has been regulated in the interest of the fish. In the future it is to be regulated in the interest of the people who depend on the [fishery].
That, sir, was a turning point, I can assure you, in the policy of the federal government. How it came about, why it came about, I'll never know. But I can assure you that from that date, you can measure the change that took place in fisheries management by the Canadian government.