Madam Speaker, on October 14 I rose in the House and asked a question of the minister of fisheries regarding the east coast lobster crisis in relation to the Donald Marshall supreme court ruling.
I held the minister's record up for review. I pointed out the minister's record up to now: no moratorium, homes burned, businesses destroyed, neighbour fighting neighbour, 200 years of harmony between natives and non-natives jeopardized and the fear and uncertainty in this free for all continues as it does today.
I asked the question: Can we expect more of the same from this minister, no leadership, no plan and no hope of a successful resolution?
There has not been a resolution to the problem and there could have been. Today there still can be, but the leadership is lacking.
My concern comes from lobster fishermen who are eighth and tenth generation fishermen. They remind me that today we have a healthy fishery, a lucrative fishery and a good fishery because it is well managed. Fishermen exercise good custodial rights, which is what we want to see in this ruling. There is no evidence that the minister is going to insist on that.
Today in the lobster fishery we have trap limits. We have areas or zones in which fishermen can and cannot fish. They are designated areas or zones. We have a season and a limit on that season. We have a limit restricting entry into that fishery.
For many years there has been a limit on the effort in that fishery. That is one of the reasons this fishery has been very healthy and able to sustain many livelihoods over the past number of years. That is what the minister has to guarantee those people, that it will be there, that their livelihoods will not be destroyed by mismanagement of the fishery. There cannot be a wholesale entry into that fishery. They have to have some comfort from the minister as to when that will happen. That is part of the solution.
When our livelihood is threatened we react. We understandably react sometimes harshly when we feel as though our way of life is going to be destroyed. That is what the non-native fishermen are experiencing at this very moment.
We want to see leadership from the federal minister. At some point, when this is all laid to rest, the word compensation has to enter the equation. If we have a fishery with no limit on the number of entrants, in other words allowing new players into that fishery, the entire fishery will be threatened. That is what I see happening. I think everyone on this side of the House can see that happening unless the minister takes strong, decisive action.
Perhaps I could ask for another 30 seconds. I do not want to see the minister continually abdicate his responsibility—