Thank you, witnesses, for appearing before our committee.
Newfoundland and Labrador knows all about overfishing, in particular foreign overfishing. The question I'm going to ask you has to do with foreign overfishing, not inside Canadian waters but outside Canadian waters. Inside Canadian waters, I don't see that as a problem. We have the enforcement mechanism in place that makes sure that if there is overfishing, the offenders are brought to court and there are penalties in place.
Since 1992, since the northern cod moratorium has been in place, there have been a lot of frustrated people back home in Newfoundland and Labrador, because while there's been a moratorium on a lot of commercial fisheries inside the Canadian 200-mile limit, there hasn't been a lot of enforcement outside of it.
The foreign vessel most recently cited for illegal fishing on the Grand Banks, I think it was in the Flemish Cap, was the Portuguese vessel Santa Isabel, which was cited on February 9 for exceeding its bycatch of American plaice. The vessel is a repeat offender.
One of the biggest problems we have with the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, NAFO, which regulates fishing outside the 200-mile limit, is that it's up to the home country of a vessel that's been cited to follow through on penalties or court action. Unfortunately, from what I can find out, in a lot of cases not a lot of penalties or court action is taken against a foreign vessel that's cited for illegal fishing outside the 200-mile limit.
I have a very succinct question. How will these regulations strengthen the weakness that we have right now when it comes to foreign overfishing, namely, that it's up to the home country of the vessel in question, the vessel cited, to follow through on penalties with court action? How will this change that?
Also, how often does a flag state order its vessel to a Canadian port? I believe the answer is never, but please feel free to correct me.