Mr. Speaker, first I want to thank my colleague, the member for Bonavista—Trinity—Conception, for sharing his time with me.
I am pleased tonight to take part in the emergency debate on the fisheries, particularly the cod situation in Newfoundland and Labrador.
I want to say at the outset that I cannot support the decision that the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans made last Thursday when he announced the closure of the northern and gulf cod stocks.
The minister's announcement, particularly as it pertains to the northern cod stocks, pretty much tied in with the recommendation of the all party committee and the FRCC. Where the big difference lies is in the gulf cod situation. There the minister has gone from a 7,000 metric tonne allocation to no fishery at all. He shut down the fishery in the gulf. I therefore cannot support the minister's decision, and there are a number of reasons for that.
I have two main reasons for not supporting the minister's decision. My colleague alluded to both of the reports. The first report was from the all party committee from Newfoundland and Labrador, a committee made up of provincial and federal politicians; members of the Senate; leaders of all three political parties in Newfoundland and Labrador, including the premier, the leader of the opposition and the leader of the NDP; and parties in the House of Commons. The other report was the FRCC report.
The FRCC report and the all party committee report were together on a couple of points. One point was that there should be an information fishery in the northern cod zone, and we respect that. An information fishery was all that the very fragile biomass of cod could sustain. The difference in the gulf is that the all party committee recommended a limited commercial fishery. We did not say that the minister had to keep the total allowable catch at 7,000 metric tonnes. We said that it should be a limited commercial fishery.
The Fisheries Resource Conservation Council, the minister's own advisory council, people appointed to advise the minister, recommended a 3,500 metric tonne fishery in the gulf. Even if the minister had not been willing to have a fishery somewhere between 3,500 metric tonnes and 7,000 metric tonnes, which, in my own personal and humble opinion, my recommendation to the minister would have been a 5,000 metric tonne fishery where the minister could have reduced the catch by 2,000 metric tonnes in the name of conservation, he could have gone to a more friendly gear type with hook and line. We could have taken more action on seals and some other actions recommended by the all party committee.
In my view, a 5,000 metric tonne fishery, done under the recommendations of the all party committee and the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council, would have given this stock a much better chance of rejuvenation and regeneration than what will happen now with a total closure.
I would not be standing in the House tonight suggesting that if I did not seriously believe that was what should have happened here. The all party committee gave the minister a very comprehensive fisheries management plan. In my view again, it is the first time in the history of this country and of our province where a federal minister of Fisheries and Oceans has been given a comprehensive fisheries management plan to deal with the cod situation in the gulf.
Having said that, I think I have explained why I have difficulty supporting the minister's decision. The most lingering question in the minds of Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans, in particular those fishermen and fish plant workers, and those communities affected by the minister's decision, is why the minister did not listen to the recommendation of his own conservation council.
There is a debate as to whether 3,500 metric tonnes is a real fishery or not, but if the minister had accepted the advice of his conservation council, then the people could have decided that for themselves. If they did not want to pursue the 3,500 metric tonne fishery or if fewer of them had pursued that 3,500 metric tonne fishery, it would have been a decision that they would have made.
However we felt, and we still feel as members of the all party committee, as do people who I have talked to in Newfoundland and Labrador, that there is a real need to have a limited commercial fishery in the gulf for all the right reasons. It is not because we do not believe in conservation. It is because we do believe in conservation. We believe the best way to deal with this issue is to engage people, sectors of the industry and, in particular, harvesters on the water.
If we take them off the water and do nothing else, we will, in my view, further decrease the biomass. We have done it for 10 or 11 years. We shut down the fisheries and did nothing else.
I ask members in the House tonight and others listening if they can please tell me what the state of the biomass is today after 10, 11 and 12 years of moratorium? The biomass is worse. Obviously closure is not the answer. People must be on the water. Other measures must be introduced in the name of conservation and in the name of rebuilding these fish stocks which are so important to the people in Newfoundland and Labrador and our rural communities.
As my colleague from Bonavista—Trinity—Conception has so rightly said, it is a Newfoundland and Labrador resource, it is an Atlantic Canada resource, it is a Canadian resource and it is a world resource. It is a food, a protein for this world that we are talking about rebuilding. Who in the name of God can talk against conservation? Who can talk against proper measures to rebuild that important resource for all of us, including the whole world?
Ten minutes is not very long in a situation like this but I respect having the time, and I know other members want to speak, but there is another thing I want to say.
I want to again go on the record again as saying that I do not support a closure. I support a limited commercial fishery. The minister has the authority to shut down the fishery which he announced last Thursday. I ask him to reconsider that. I ask him to at least reconsider establishing 3,500 tonnes at least in line with his own conservation council's recommendation.
When we have shut down fisheries in the past, many important components were part of that closure. There was an early retirement program based on certain criteria: age and experience in the industry. There was a licence buyout program for those who wanted to sell out their enterprises, who wanted to get out of the fishery because of their age or because they really did not see any hope.
This time there is no early retirement component and no licence buyout component. I asked the minister today in the House, as I did the day before yesterday, why those components were not there if he himself had made this decision. I also wanted to know why there was no extension to the employment insurance benefit program for those people who would be exhausting their benefits in the next few days or in the next two or three weeks, or for those who will not be able to fish lobster and crab because of the ice.
I have asked very legitimate questions that must be answered by someone in authority in the government. I think it is totally unacceptable that we have not seen fit to extend the employment insurance benefits to those people who need them, those people who have paid into the fund and those who have contributed to the surplus. We would not be precedent setting. We have done that on a number of occasions in the past. Why is it different this time? We cannot treat the people any differently this time than we have treated them in the past.
I have talked about the components. We have extended EI. We have had provisions for early retirement. We have had licence buyout programs. The people affected this time should have the same treatment. They cannot be discriminated against.
Every decision on the management of this resource is a federal government decision. The size of the boat, the type of gear, the length of the season and the total allowable catch are all federal government, DFO related management decisions. We have to take responsibility for it.
Those people who will be negatively impacted because of a decision made by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans must be treated fairly. We cannot treat them differently this time in 2003 than we treated them in 1992.
In conclusion I want to ask the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans for Canada to please reconsider his decision and to please take the advice of his fisheries resource conservation council and at least set the total allowable catch at 3,500 tonnes.
I ask the minister and other ministers to please consider an extension of the employment insurance program, to bring in an early retirement component and a licensed buyout program for those people who want to take it. There may be those who do not want to but the opportunity should be afforded them.
I ask the minister and other ministers in related portfolios in the government to please consider this on behalf of the people I represent and we all represent in Newfoundland and Labrador.