I welcome my colleague Mr. Cormier's motion. It's a great idea, and I support it. I would ask the clerk to immediately send you a few amendments that I propose.
I grew up in Cascapédia—Saint-Jules, right near the Grande Cascapédia River. It's a legendary salmon river. I've seen the importance of this fishery to the culture, as my colleague was saying.
I applaud the initiative of this study on the decline of salmon and the fact that, together, we can find ways to protect the species, our culture and our economy. I recently had a discussion with Pierre D'amours, who is a well-known guide in the Restigouche River area. He was telling me about the importance of striped bass, particularly in the river, and made a suggestion to consider a commercial fishery for striped bass. We'll see if we can get there.
The purpose of the amendments that I am proposing and that have been sent to you is to have a study that is as broad as possible on the potential causes of the decline of Atlantic salmon. We are actually seeing striped bass. Many people would see that as the factor. We see seals. People think they are the ones eating the salmon. However, we can see that, in areas where there are no striped bass or seals, there is still a decline in Atlantic salmon.
In this study, I propose assessing what is happening in the Strait of Belle Isle, between Quebec and Newfoundland, because we know that there will be runs. Some salmon will go as far as Greenland. The Fédération québécoise pour le saumon atlantique thinks that that is where there is a high mortality rate.
I therefore move that the motion be amended by adding the following after the word “Labrador” in subparagraph (a)(i): “including throughout the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Strait of Belle Isle region”.
After subparagraph (a)(iv), I propose that a new subparagraph be added as follows: “(v) the decline is also observed in areas where striped bass are scarce or absent, such as in the Strait of Belle Isle, underscoring the importance of examining mortality factors during marine and estuarine migration more broadly,”.
In paragraph (b), I propose to delete the word “particular” and the words “the available scientific data” and, after the word “seals”, add the following: “as well as general conditions, mortality factors during migration and available scientific data throughout the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Strait of Belle Isle”.