John Cummins on Questions On The Order Paper

With regard to the herring spawn-on-kelp fishery and the response to the directive of the Supreme Court of Canada in Gladstone that a new trial be held to establish the extent of licences that ought to be available to the Heiltsuk band: (a) were existing spawn-on-kelp licences purchased and transferred to the Heiltsuk in either 1997 or 1998, and if not, why not; were existing licence holders given the opportunity to sell their licences; (b) did the department of fisheries and its spawn-on-kelp technical working group prior to the issuance of additional licences in 1997 and 1998 undertake reviews of the economic impact on existing spawn-on-kelp licence holders of the creation of additional licences versus the purchase of existing licences, and if so, what were the findings and recommendations of each review, and which of the recommendations of each review were implemented; (c) did the department of fisheries and its spawn-on-kelp technical working group undertake reviews of the economic impact on existing licence holders of the creation of new licences following the 1997 and 1998 seasons, and if so, what were the findings and recommendations of these reviews and what action was taken in each case to implement the recommendations; (d) did the department of fisheries and its spawn-on-kelp technical working group prior to the issuance of additional licences in 1997 and 1998 undertake reviews of the impact of the creation of additional licences on herring and kelp stocks versus the purchase of existing spawn-on-kelp licences, and if so, what were the findings and recommendations of each review, and which of the recommendations of each review were implemented; (e) did the department of fisheries and its spawn-on-kelp technical working group undertake reviews of the impact on herring and kelp stocks of the creation of new licences following the 1997 and 1998 seasons, and if so, what were the findings and recommendations of each review and what action was taken to implement the recommendations of each review; (f) did the department of fisheries and its spawn-on-kelp technical working group prior to the issuance of additional licences in 1997 and 1998 undertake a review of the market impact, particularly on spawn-on-kelp prices, of the creation of additional licences versus the purchase of existing spawn-on-kelp licences, and if so, what were the findings and recommendations of each review, and which of the recommendations of each review were implemented; (g) did the department of fisheries and its spawn-on-kelp technical working group undertake a review of the market impact, particularly on spawn-on-kelp prices, of the creation of additional spawn-on-kelp licences following the 1997 and 1998 season, and if so, what were the findings and recommendations of each review and what action was taken to implement the recommendations of each review; and (h) what criteria were used to establish that additional spawn-on-kelp licences were required in 1997 and 1998; did the minister of fisheries or his department consider the impact the additional licences would have on existing licence holders and on the public right; has an assessment been made of the impact on the existing licence holders and the public right since the creation of the additional licences?