Mr. Speaker, in 2005, a crab management plan for crab fishing areas 23 and 24 was put into place that fishers felt would bring long-term sustainability and stability to the area.
A fifty-fifty sharing mechanism was to be triggered when the total allowable catch reached 9,700 tonnes. However, once that number was reached, the minister chose not to honour this agreement and maintained the 60-40 formula which favoured 40 fishers while disadvantaging over 700.
Will the minister commit today to honouring the original agreement?