Mr. Speaker, I rise to bring to the attention of this House the deep concerns of many fishermen across the Scotia-Fundy area. I have been meeting with the fishermen in this area and on Monday I attended the round table in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia with the fishermen and officials from DFO.
For decades the fishing industry has been the backbone of many local communities in Atlantic Canada. The new fishing policies such as licence fee increases, a new professional core fishery, ITQs, and Bills C-98 and C-115 have threatened the very survival of the hand-line fishery. Serious flaws in the Oceans Act as well as the Fisheries Act must be addressed.
I call on this government before it proceeds any further to allow the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans to travel from coast to coast so that fishermen can be heard and changes implemented before a way of life is destroyed.