Thank you, and thank you to the witnesses.
Mr. McGuinness, you're not the first chair of the Fisheries Council of Canada I've had dealings with. I don't know if you're familiar with Gus Etchegary, a former chairman of the Fisheries Council of Canada. He's also former head of one of the largest integrated fishing companies in Canada, Fisheries Products Limited before it was called Fishery Products International. I helped him write a book prior to my being elected to politics called Empty Nets: How Greed and Politics Wiped Out The World's Greatest Fishery. Of course, I'm talking about the cod fisheries off Newfoundland and Labrador. There's a story in the news today, as a matter of fact, about how the northern cod moratorium that was introduced in 1992 and was supposed to last 2 years will probably last at least another 10 years. If it lasts another 10 years, what was supposed to be 2 years will be 33 years.
In that book, Mr. Etchegary, the former chair of the Fisheries Council of Canada, writes about how overfishing, illegal fishing, and mismanagement destroyed the cod fisheries. One of the big criticisms after the institution of the 1992 moratorium was the fact that while Canadians stopped fishing inside the 200-mile limit for northern cod and other species that were in danger, the fishing outside the 200-mile limit did not stop and continues to this day. There are foreign vessels charged regularly outside the 200-mile limit, but the question has been raised about what penalties are instituted by the flagged countries. My answer to that is that practically nothing stops them from further overfishing.
Illegal fishing inside Canadian waters is not seen as a problem because the Canadian Coast Guard and our regulatory forces take charge. Any vessels that illegally fish are brought to court and are prosecuted. Illegal fishing outside the 200-mile limit...and it's different from the United States, you're right, because the United States has the Magnuson-Stevens Act, but it doesn't have a continental shelf that extends outside the 200-mile limit in international waters. Canada is one of the few countries in the world that does. I'm telling you something you do know, Mr. McGuinness, but I'm sure a lot of people around this table don't know, particularly on the other side.
Illegal fishing inside the 200-mile limit is not a problem, but it is a problem outside the 200-mile limit until this day. What will this act, which we've been waiting for for years and which may take years before being instituted, do to help Canada charge and prosecute foreign vessels outside the 200-mile limit where the real problem with illegal fishing exists? What will this do to stop that?
I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. I hope I was speaking loud enough for Mr. Kent. Mr. Chair, I know he mentioned yesterday in the House of Commons he has a hearing a problem. I hope that he not only heard me today, but also listened.
Thank you.