Thank you, Mr. Allen.
I will be repeating some of what Mr. Allen said. Our position was submitted in writing and I think our brief can be distributed.
I'll just do a summary.
You will certainly have the opportunity to read the brief. It is our preliminary proposal to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.
With regard to the Atlantic right whale in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, our presentation to the committee will focus on the lobster fishery. As to the snow crab fishery, our recommendations are included in the joint industry proposal, which was submitted for the meeting about the right whale that was held in early October, in Moncton, with Fisheries and Oceans in attendance. The document is from the Association des crabiers acadiens, the Fédération régionale acadienne des pêcheurs professionnels and the Association des transformateurs de produits de la mer du Nouveau-Brunswick.
This is a preliminary proposal by the MFU to improve management measures in the 2019 season so that fishery operations can run smoothly while also effectively protecting right whales in the Southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. The purpose of our proposal is to foster real cooperation with Fisheries and Oceans, the primary goal being coexistence of the right whale and the fishing industry. As I said, we will be making a much more official proposal in the coming weeks. We will sit down with representatives of other lobster coastal fishing associations in the Southeastern Gulf with a view to making a joint proposal.
In our view, the measures that our industry will propose will further facilitate fishing activities while also preventing major social and economic losses, and without affecting the degree of protection of right whales. In fact, we think these measures will increase their protection immediately and for a number of years. Mr. Allen provided some background a few moments ago, but I will go over some of the details.
To fully understand the issues, we must look back to 2017. The industry was hit with significant mortalities and entanglements of right whales, but we know that these incidents cannot be entirely blamed on the fisheries. We will not dwell on the cause of these deaths. In 2017, there were particular conditions that affected the crab fishery. Ms. Sonnenberg referred to that.
First, there was a TAC—a total historical allowable catch—for snow crab. It was 43,822 tonnes versus 19,393 tonnes in 2016, which is more than double. In addition, according to many, the increase in the number of traps meant that some equipment was installed with more rope than normally required. This would have contributed to a significant increase in floating rope at the surface. As the Grand Manan Fishermen's Association pointed out, this species has the interesting characteristic of feeding at the surface, which is also unfortunate.
In short, there were problems in 2017 that led to significant mortalities of whales. In 2018, the elimination of much of the floating rope was one of the major changes to fishing practices for snow crab and other coastal species, particularly lobster. Despite the area closures, if we had simply measured the impact of eliminating floating rope, we could have seen impressive results. The problem is that all these measures were taken at the same time so it is difficult to assess now.
As to the MFU's position for 2019, we have already heard a few examples from Mr. Haché. We want changes to the dynamic closure area, whereby an area would be closed only if three whales are present.
As to the static closure area, you all saw the big yellow box that all the Canadian media showed. That was before the start of the fishing season. No fishing was allowed in that area after the start of the season. That is totally unacceptable. We should have access to fish in that area until the whales arrive in the gulf. What we will propose is an evolving system of static closures under which there would have to be at least six whales, perhaps fewer, in areas for them to be closed.