My name's Frank Hennessey. I've been fishing since 1967. I've been active in many associations and committees over the years. I was in the ground fishery when the cod moratorium came out, and I feel that I will be in the crab fishery when the crab moratorium comes about. I was an original member of the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council and served for nine years, from 1993 on.
Since 1995 I've been fishing in zone E. In its present state, the crab fishery is very much the same as where the cod fishery was in 1993. We all know how that has been managed to near extinction in the past 17 years. Many of the indicators are the same. There's too high a TAC, causing overfishing. Seal predation is being ignored; however, it's now recognized as one of the major factors in cod depletion in 4T. There's not enough recognition given to science's ability. There's inconsistent policy from DFO, which we the stakeholders are subject to but the department is not. And economic viability is being put ahead of fisheries conservation.
It was said four years ago that major cuts should be made in the crab quota or we would have to take drastic cuts in four years, which is where we are now. Given the issues that science addressed at their snow crab science RAP 2010, this year's cuts will not alleviate the situation. We may be looking at a full moratorium for all of zone 12 next year.
I have a few points on zone E, where I am. When the fishery came about in 1995, there were four players. The next year there were four more new entries in it. The four original players lost 50% of their quota to make room for them, which was all right. But then later on a number of these players were given shrimp to be viable, although some of the original ones weren't.
This area is the farthest in the zone to be fished for the smallest quotas. From the viability study done, it's the most expensive area to catch fish. With the new entries and the smaller quotas--we had a licence--we thought that instead of steaming 35 hours back and forth, most of us could catch it three or four hours from home. It's the same crab biologically, the same science, but there was no room for extra fishers in zone 12.
Four or five years ago they made eight new licences out of temporary permits in New Brunswick to make it more viable for rationalization. In 2008, they put 3,100 tonnes of temporary sharing into permanent sharing in zone 12. Still there was no room for us to move in.
This year we have 18,000 pounds to catch in an area where it takes 14 hours to steam one way in good weather, and in bad weather it's 18 or 19 hours. There was no room for us to go in zone 12 because of the downturn in the fishery. But this year the Quebec region issued eight more licences to the province and the Magdalens, taking them from temporary fisheries to licences. We're still there; we're still denied.
So when I'm talking about policy, it seems the department has a policy for some, which we're subject to, but the department can twist it any way it wants.
That's it. Thank you.