Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to offer my firm support to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in his efforts to conserve Greenland halibut and turbot.
The European Union has launched a formal objection to the quota decision of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization. It was the European Union's use of this objection procedure in the late 1980s that led to the moratoria on flatfish and cod on the tail of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.
Even as scientific findings showed evidence of stock decline, the Spanish ignored all warnings and actually increased their fishing efforts.
The NAFO decision is the result of a vote by the world's major fishing nations: Japan, Russia, Norway, Iceland, Cuba and Canada. Its findings are based on conservation, science and traditional shares.
It is irresponsible for the European Union to play by the rules only when the rules are in its own favour. We cannot allow further destruction of Canada's fisheries resources while communities such as those in my riding of St. John's West are suffering economic devastation in the name of conservation.