Good morning. It will be hard to stick to the four minutes, but I'll be as brief as possible. It's unfortunate you didn't choose to go directly to a fishing community. The people of Caraquet, Lamèque and Shippagan would have been happy to share their experiences and would have shown you directly how important the industry is to us back home.
It's important to recall that Basile Roussel, from the little village of Le Goulet, near Shippagan, is the one who, together with a group of fishermen, founded this entire industry which today generates billions of dollars for the country as a whole. However, without going into the details of the history of this fishery that our fleet has been engaged in for 45 years now, it's important for me to remind you that our fishermen are the real pioneers. In the vast majority of cases, the current fishermen are the sons of those individuals who developed the industry of this fishery that has become so sought after. With its 42 years of existence, the FRAPP, which I represent, is the oldest fishermen's association in New Brunswick and no doubt one of the oldest in the country.
With all this baggage and experience, we are increasingly concerned about the survival of our midshore fleets. Policies, administrative rules and political decisions work against this group of fishermen in the vast majority of cases. This morning, we're talking about snow crab, but things are going just as badly, if not worse, for other species, including shrimp, and the shrimp industry is also in danger.
I've been part of management at the federation for three years, and the first thing I notice is the weight of the number. In the case of snow crab, our traditional crab fleet, with less than 80 boats around the Acadian Peninsula and Gaspesie, can't compare to the thousands of fishermen in the other fleets. So you politicians have a big role to play.
Changes should simply be made to the Fisheries Act, which dates back to the start of Confederation. We all know that the last two attempts failed. So we should reopen this file as soon as possible and ensure there's a better framework. The decision-making mechanism is truly obsolete because power is centralized. The power is held by a single person, who no doubt has the best intentions in the world and yet can't foresee all the possible consequences in this increasingly complex world. That power has to be taken out of the minister's hands. All the fishermen concerned urgently need to be given back what belongs to them, their fishery and their occupation. There's no room here for envy and jealousy, which are fueled by the belief that the resource belongs to all Canadians. We believe that not everyone can go out on the water to fish, just as not all of us can become woodcutters or farmers.
Over the years, the various ministers of Fisheries and Oceans Canada have all, each in their own way, tried to favour one or more groups of fishermen. The one who has the most political power and who adopts the best lobbying strategy comes out the winner, very often to the detriment of the other groups. Now we've lost so much that our industry no longer belongs to us and is quickly headed toward a major financial fiasco.
How many of you would like to be told that your income will drop by 63% and that you'll have to continue sharing 15% more with others? And if that isn't enough, someone has the gall to tell you that, in doing so, they'll be stabilizing the industry. Something really isn't working here. No business, no company can survive in these circumstances or as a result of these kinds of arbitrary decisions. The negative impact of these decisions in recent years will continue to be felt in the coming weeks and months. It's easy to rebut this argument by saying that this is the way the fishing industry is headed and that it's up to fishermen to prepare for bad years.
For the past 10 years, however, our fishermen haven't had the chance to prepare. Instead we've been focusing on surviving year after year, when our industry was increasingly in danger. What do you say this morning to a young fisherman who has taken over from his father this year, last year or five years ago? Was he able to prepare for this situation? Who's going to help him? The general public has the false perception that crab fishermen are all rich. And yet the major losses our businesses have to bear this year can't be recovered next year, unless a miracle happens. Do you have a plan? Does DFO have a plan? The answer is no; there isn't a single penny. Over a period of 15 years, DFO, which advocated sharing and viability, has driven an entire fleet into a precarious financial situation. It's enough to bowl over any accountant or financial analyst.
Are there any ways to support our fishermen? The answer is yes. For example, our crab fishermen pay large amounts of money for their fishing licences every year. They're required to pay $137.50 a tonne. This year, the average is around $5,500. Let's hand those amounts back to them. We aren't going to ruin the Canadian government that way. So let's start with that.
Second, support the request made by all the associations of crab fishermen to the Auditor General of Canada for an investigation into the management of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which we think runs counter to the concept of a sustainable fishery.
In closing, we appreciate your effort to look into the difficult situation of the crab fishery in area 12 this year. However, as you will all agree, not all Canadian fisheries are on the Canadian government's agenda. The current economic crisis confirms that state of affairs. Attention has been focused on the crisis in the automotive sector, and the purse was immediately opened: billions of dollars were given to multinational corporations. Our colleagues in the lobster fishery have been luckier than we have because, after a few weeks, they managed to get a slim $65 million for all of eastern Canada. The entire fisheries file as a whole must be reviewed. The survival of hundreds of communities on the Maritime coast of the country is at stake.
Thank you for listening, and I'll be pleased to answer your questions.