Mr. Speaker, we would not expect a love-in from the hon. member opposite but we certainly would like him to get his facts straight. He is considerably wrong on some of his facts this evening.
I will deal first with the high-grading of northern shrimp. There is no question the department is concerned about this practice which is illegal and wastes shrimp. As a result the minister announced increased observer coverage and comparisons of observed and unobserved catches in the inshore fishery. That is a practice that has been going on. There is greater evidence that kind of observer system works. It was talked about at committee the other day, I believe, by the minister.
This will provide better data on what is happening on the water and will allow the detection of violations. The auditor general, and I hope he is listening as well, commented positively on these measures as steps being taken by the department to better monitor the fishery and to better use observer data. That is a step forward.
The overriding concern of the minister is to conserve living marine resources and to ensure they are used in a sustainable manner. In all fisheries, decisions on quota levels are based on the best scientific information available. It is not just numbers of scientists. It is how that information is collected, how it is tabulated and how decisions are made. If this information is uncertain, we err on the side of caution, meaning that quotas might be set lower and additional conservation measures might be introduced.
Keep in mind that these are temporary allocations that are recommended and can be withdrawn when the science dictates otherwise.