Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join the debate responding to the hon. member's motion.
I come from the central interior of British Columbia. Only recently, just before the last election, has my riding even touched the coast.
Members may wish to know why I would be so interested in a motion concerning fisheries and oceans.
Despite the fact that my hometown is about 600 kilometres north of the Vancouver area, the Fraser River runs right up the centre of the province of British Columbia.
Running into the Fraser River are many tributaries: the Thompson River, the Chilcotin River and the Quesnel River. These rivers are all major fish spawning grounds.
It has been very interesting for me since being elected as member of parliament for Cariboo—Chilcotin to come to understand what a large part this part of the province plays in the fishing industry and in the replenishment of fish stocks.
One of the first concerns I had was when fisheries decided to close down a fish hatchery at a little place called Likely, a fish hatchery on the Quesnel River.
Some dozen years or more ago this hatchery was built, at considerable expense, to enhance the chinook stocks. These are large salmon that come up the Fraser and Quesnel rivers.
The essence of this is that fisheries decided this was no longer an economically feasible project and so, after diminishing the results of this, cutting back the two million fish that were supposed to come out to 200,000 or less, they decided to close the hatchery.
The people of the community of Likely are today sustaining that 200,000 a year level of fish spawning and entry into the river at their own expense. They capture the fish, they strip the eggs, they nourish and feed the young salmon as they are growing and they open the gates and let them go.
What is the federal government contributing to this? Absolutely nothing.
I would also like to talk about another fishing system in the Horsefly River. Last year fisheries failed to even open the spawning channels for the sockeye salmon. The people wrote to the minister of fisheries about this and the response was that they did not need those fish stocks. In the face of the decline that we hear about this year, they were told they did not need the fish. Those salmon were practically crawling up the banks looking for a place to lay their eggs. It was so bad that the spawning grounds were being destroyed by the fish that needed them.
In Cariboo—Chilcotin the fisheries department has badly mismanaged its project of enhancing fish stocks and keeping them at a sustainable level. One of the frequent complaints I get from my constituents concerns the destruction of fisheries and the lack of attention that is needed to sustain the stocks.