Mr. Speaker, yesterday I had a chance to speak to President Santer of the European Union, and Prime Minister Gonzalez of Spain. Mr. Santer had indicated earlier that he hoped we would be able to negotiate a settlement to the dispute as soon as possible. That is what we intend to do.
It is true a number of ships are fishing at this time. There were 49 and now there are six. Yesterday I spoke to Mr. Gonzalez, and I told him to ask the Spanish fishermen to withdraw, because we have ordered our own fishermen to stop fishing and the same should apply to Spanish fishermen. I will be talking to Mr. Gonzalez again later today. Canada takes the position that a settlement should be such as ensure that in the future, fishing regulations will be complied with both outside and within the 200-mile zone. That is our goal, and in the interest of conservation we hope to attain it as soon as possible.