Thank you.
One of the other things I want to point out, as well, is that with regard to the offshore, of course there are a number of licence holders in Newfoundland and Labrador who use the revenue that they accumulate from the offshore industry to invest in the inshore.
In the area that I represent, we have Torngat Fisheries and the Labrador Fishermen's Union Shrimp Company, and if those quotas were at risk, so too would the communities be at risk.
I think that having a good balance of how the declining stocks are managed and how the reductions are applied is very critical to the protection of many Canadians who work in the industry and many communities that depend upon the fishery.
If you want to talk about fairness, I'm going to give you this particular scenario because I think it's important to point out how mismanaged this resource has actually been. When the LIFO policy came into effect, at that particular time the inshore fishery in shrimp fishing area 6, which is where a lot of people in our province are, had an allocation of 1,306 tonnes of shrimp. That was in 1998. At that time, the inshore allocation, in total, was just over 31,000 tonnes.
As a result, we have seen increases in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2008 in the inshore shrimp quota, and it peaked at over 85,000 tonnes. But the inshore quota for Labrador did not increase. However, when it came time to make the reductions in the quota, they were the first people hit. They were directly adjacent, looking out their doorstep at up to 20 shrimp trawlers offshore, as well as the inshore. They went through consecutive increases where they did not get one tonne of shrimp. Yet when it came time that they had to make the reduction, they were one of the first ones and they lost 300 tonnes of shrimp.
I don't have to tell you how that has impacted those communities and the inshore fishermen and their families who live there. It has been absolutely horrendous, from a financial perspective, and from all other perspectives.
Do you mean to tell me that this was good management on behalf of the federal government? It was not, and these people are the ones in this country who are suffering as a result of it.
There needs to be a complete overhaul, and there needs to be some very serious changes made in order for this program to work effectively and benefit people in this country. I want to put that out there so it's on the record, but I'm sure you are aware of it.
I'd like to hear any response that you may have as well.