Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, I would like to thank the hon. member for St. John's West for his ongoing interest in the issue of foreign overfishing. I welcome this opportunity to say a few words on this very important issue.
The Government of Canada takes the issue of foreign overfishing very seriously. Overfishing affects some of Canada's most vulnerable communities. We saw an example of this recently.
During a port inspection of the Russian registered vessel Olga , DFO officials determined that the vessel had on board 49 tonnes of cod and 9 tonnes of skate that had been caught outside Canada's 200 mile limit. The relative amount of cod on board clearly indicated a directed fishery for this species that is contrary to the moratoria for all cod stocks in the NAFO regulatory area.
The Government of Canada took action. We immediately raised this issue with the Russian authorities. I am pleased to say that we are seeing results.
The Russian fisheries' representative in Halifax has advised Canada and NAFO that the Russian authorities are cancelling Olga 's licence to fish in NAFO waters for the remainder of this year and that they will conduct further investigations into this vessel's activities. The Canadian embassy in Moscow will meet with Russian authorities to ensure that a thorough investigation is made and that appropriate sanctions are levied. This is a clear indication that Russia has taken Canada's concerns with this vessel very seriously. The Olga is now in Iceland and we have requested that Icelandic authorities undertake a detailed inspection of the vessel and inform us of their findings.
Similar concerns have been raised in the Latvian registered vessel Otto but the situation with the Otto is different. On March 19 we authorized the Otto to enter a Canadian port to unload its cargo. The Otto 's agent advised DFO that the vessel would offload its catch in Iceland rather than in Canada.
At Canada's request, the Icelandic authorities undertook a full inspection of this vessel and gave us a copy of the dockside inspection report. The report indicated that no irregularities were found. Quite simply, the Otto was not involved in any illegal fishing.
These are just two examples of the Government of Canada taking action on allegations of foreign overfishing. Indeed Canada will not tolerate the wilful abuse of NAFO quotas and rules. When such allegations arise, Canada will take up the matter with the proper authorities.
We have already demonstrated our resolve by closing our ports to Faeroese and Estonian fishing fleets because of non-compliance to NAFO rules and conservation measures. DFO officials are now closely monitoring the fishing activities of several other fleets to ensure compliance. If there is evidence of non-compliance, similar actions will be taken.
Canadians depend on DFO to manage this resource on their behalf and to manage it responsibly with an eye to the future. Fisheries and Oceans Canada continues to take this responsibility seriously and will continue to respond to allegations of foreign overfishing in an appropriate fashion.