Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for the invitation to present here today to your committee on this very important topic.
My name is David Vardy. I'm an economist by training, and I spent most of my career as a senior executive in government. I served as president of the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, and as secretary to the cabinet of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. I was a member of the negotiating team that negotiated the 1985 Atlantic accord, which established joint management of our oil and gas resources. I was also the deputy minister of fisheries on July 2, 1992, the day that the Honourable John Crosbie announced the northern cod moratorium.
I'm here today representing myself only. I'm a private citizen. On July 5, I wrote a letter to all MPs serving the province, asking that the decision announced by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans on June 26 concerning the reopening of the northern cod fishery be reversed. In my opinion, the risks of reopening were too high, and the stakes were so enormous as to demand a full-scale public consultation process before such a momentous decision was taken. Unfortunately, it's now too late to reverse the decision for 2024; the fish have swum.
The essence of good public policy is the exercise of wisdom in balancing decisions between competing objectives. In fisheries management, conservation and sustainability must often compete with employment objectives, and prudence dictates that conservation must be the main priority. Sound public policy demands that we mobilize knowledge and experience and that we bring them together through shared management. Sound public policy decisions should be forged using the best governance model we can devise, one which shares information publicly and includes all stakeholders.
In reaching her momentous but flawed decision in June, the minister assigned greater priority to year-round jobs than to conservation. Sound fisheries management demands that sustainability and conservation must instead be the overriding priorities. In my letter of July 5, I pointed out that many experts recommended a completely different approach to management, one which integrates the decision-making powers of the federal and the provincial governments. Such a shared management process would harmonize decisions to balance conflicting policy objectives. Such joint management would also provide for a more transparent process by placing all the evidence in the public eye.
Independent science is essential if shared management is to succeed. Fishery science must become more independent of political influence, as was the case in Newfoundland with the old Newfoundland Fisheries Research Board, which began its work under a commission of government and which continued for years after Confederation. Iceland has long and successfully relied upon an independent fisheries research organization, as has Norway.
I am asking that your committee recommend that the quota and allocations for 2025 be capped at the 2024 levels or lower and that the Government of Canada join with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in appointing a joint royal commission into the future of the fishery. The royal commission should be given a broad mandate to advise on how the fishery, including northern cod, should be managed. The commission should review the scientific evidence and seek consensus on how the fishery should be managed. It would include advice on how to best control foreign overfishing. It would include advice on gear technology, on seal predation and on how spawning concentrations should be avoided.
In summary, I offer the following recommendations.
In the preparation for a management plan for 2025 for northern cod, the minister should cap the 2025 quota and the allocations at the 2024 levels or less. Canada should give the highest priority to the conservation, sustainability and rebuilding of depleted fish stocks as overriding public policy objectives. Failure to prioritize conservation will destroy, not create, long-term employment opportunities. Governments and stakeholders should embrace shared management of the fishery, beginning with a joint federal-provincial royal commission into the future management of the fishery, including northern cod and other straddling fish stocks. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador should be invited to appoint one of these commissioners.
I thank you for the opportunity to make this presentation today. I look forward to answering your questions.
Thank you very much.