Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to stand and support the motion put forward by my colleague and friend, the hon. member for Cardigan in Prince Edward Island. I also want to salute him and his efforts on behalf of his constituents and Atlantic lobster fishermen throughout the region, who face very difficult times.
The member for Cardigan has shown real leadership, insight and dedication to what is best for them. Members of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans have been engaged in a study on the circumstance, future and viability of the Atlantic lobster fishery. We have become starkly aware of the incredibly difficult circumstances that fishermen from this region of Canada face, throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Prince Edward Island.
It is gravely serious. Market conditions are at an all time low. Price has declined dramatically and at an incredible rate. The market has basically collapsed within the last 12 to 24 month period. Prices are now at an all time low of nearly 50% of their historic highs. In addition, resource concerns are very clear in certain lobster fishing areas. Those concerns cause quite a lot of anxiety about whether this is a fully sustainable fishery into the long term in those individual lobster fishing areas because of recruitment issues.
The member for Cardigan has shown leadership on this issue and brought it forward to the floor of the House of Commons. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans also represents a constituency from Prince Edward Island, yet we have seen nothing from the minister to protect that vital industry, an industry that supports her island economy. We hope the House can guide the minister further through passing this resolution, giving her some strength while she sits at the cabinet table and implores upon her colleagues to successfully get a lobster licence retirement program and get it fully funded.
The member for Cardigan had it perfectly correct. He was absolutely right. Many solutions can be used to assist the fishermen. However, the one thing we have seen very clearly is that without an organized reduction in lobster fishing capacity, one that results in not a transfer of that capacity but permanent reduction or elimination of that capacity, the serious problems that certain lobster fishing areas face will not be solved.
Those of us who paid close attention to the evidence, discussion, words, wisdom and experience of the lobster fishermen understood that a lobster licence retirement program might not be necessary in certain lobster fishing areas. However, it is necessary for those areas that face a serious over-capacity challenge to meet the needs of a fully sustainable future fishery for generations to come. Without that sustainability, we do not build the sound foundations of a reliable industry.
Many challenges are occurring in this industry, markets being one of the most predominant right now. As I said earlier, the price now paid to the land values is almost 50% below historic highs of what fishermen were paid in many areas. That will change if the government concentrates on the necessary tools and resources to generate new markets and pierce through those obstacles that market conditions for Atlantic Canadian and Quebec lobster currently present.
One thing that can change the resource prospects in terms of ecological and environmental sustainability over the long term is the reduction in capacity in specific fishing areas where it is required and a permanent reduction, a reduction that is conducted with the full support of lobster fishermen from that area. They need an opportunity, and some are looking for an opportunity, to exit the fishery and to do so with dignity and respect and to provide for a livelihood for those who remain. That is a critical point. Those who remain will be able to continue on in this industry and maintain reasonable livelihoods for their families. That does not look like a prospect that can be sustained into the future under the current conditions.
Those are the efforts of the member for Cardigan. I wish he were the minister because he would introduce some sound judgment and good policies into the fishery. However, that is the judgment of the member for Cardigan, Prince Edward Island and that judgment is shared by so many of his colleagues and those in the industry. We hope it is shared by colleagues from across the way as well, and that we, by passing this motion, continue our work within the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on the Atlantic lobster study.
The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans hails from Prince Edward Island and is the minister responsible for the well-being of this industry. We are trying to give her some ammunition so she can go to her cabinet colleagues and the Prime Minister and get the tools required to get the job done. To date she has not done that.
We have had stimulus packages to respond to industries in peril in Canada. While we may debate the various aspects of those stimulus packages as they relate to those industries, we will leave to another time. However, when it comes to the $1 billion lobster fishery or the $4 billion fishery at large, not one penny has been invested to provide a stimulus and to provide a good solid foundation for a future fishery by the government, not one penny.
I could argue the point about how banks and the auto sector have been getting billions. This is not about pitting one against the other, which is so often the tactic of the government. This is simply to say that there is a necessity in many industry sectors. There is a necessity to apply Government of Canada resources to solve a critical problem in the Atlantic lobster fishery, which the government has not done. In fact, it is going even further in terms of its destructive path.
The member for Cardigan raised an issue about the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovations. In the course of our travels and in meeting with lobster fishermen, organizational heads, committee chairs and others, we heard time and time again a sorry story about how the Conservative government was shutting down a vital organization involved in the coordination of research, development and the implementation of new technology and innovation into the fisheries sector. It is doing it at a critical time when the industry needs it the most, and that is now.
The Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovations, CCFI, has proven itself time and time again. Yet that track record of success is met with the back of the hand and a blind eye. Funding is being cut now and the organization may close, even though it enjoys the support of fishermen, fishermen's organizations and the fishing industry generally throughout all of Canada.
I implore the government to seek some wisdom before it shuts this institution down. I also implore the government to consider well the wisdom of the motion that has been put forward by the member for Cardigan, Prince Edward Island, someone who knows this industry probably better than anyone in this place. He understands not only where it has been, where it is today, but where it will go in the future. We need the motion passed and we need it acted upon immediately.