Mr. Speaker, the auditor general has just recently released his report on the state of the federal government's management policies, or the lack thereof, of our east coast shellfish industry.
He rightly points out the lack of resources in his scientific assessment of the various species such as crab, shrimp, scallops and lobster. He also points out that the minister and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans do ignore advice from various sources.
I will quote from the report:
We noted significant weaknesses in the Department's management practices designed to achieve its objectives for the Atlantic shellfish fishery. Our audit found decisions that contradict the Department's Fishery of the Future strategy, which formed the basis of our criteria for this audit. In addition, the Department is pursuing social objectives that it has not articulated to Parliament, and economic objectives for which it has not identified expected results. There is an urgent need for the Department to clarify these objectives and to develop and implement the strategies to achieve overall sustainability of the Atlantic shellfish fisheries.
The NDP wishes to thank the auditor general for his report.