Mr. Speaker, the International Court of Justice in The Hague has ruled that the court has no authority to hear Spain's complaint that Canada's seizure of the fishing trawler Estai in 1995 violated international law.
If the current Minister of Fisheries and Oceans truly believes in conservation, as he claims he does, now is the time to prove it by extending Canada's jurisdiction over the ocean floor to 350 miles to include all the continental shelf. This would stop foreign fishing draggers from destroying the seabed on Canada's continental shelf outside the present 200 mile limit.
This foreign fishing is damaging the spawning areas on the Flemish Cap and the nose and tail of the Grand Banks and destroying the fishing resource for our coastal communities.
We now have the opportunity to preserve fish stocks for all future generations by preventing huge foreign bottom draggers from fishing spawning grounds and destroying the seabed.