If the total allowable catch, or TAC, is increased from 25,000 to 80,000 tonnes, and then to 250,000 tonnes, the share allocated to shrimpers and other fleets could increase. We know quite well that shrimp trawlers are currently one of our fleets with the highest needs.
Despite the initial TAC allocation and supplementary allocations, could the Minister say that one fleet is at greater risk than another and that, as a result, she has decided to increase that fleet’s share of the supplementary TAC a little more, given the challenges it faces?
As you said earlier, the new Fisheries Act that we passed grants the minister the power to take these measures. Might she decide to do so?