Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.
Less than a month ago the government extended Canada's jurisdiction beyond the 200-mile limit in order to catch Spanish poachers who were abusing turbot stocks off the east coast. However in British Columbia six conspirators who pleaded guilty to poaching herring roe were let off with absolute discharges, the last one given the absolute discharge on May 5.
Will the minister show the same concern for the tiny herring and the tiny salmon clinging by their fingernails on the west coast as he did for the turbot stocks on the east coast and launch an appeal of those absolute discharges immediately?