Mr. Chair, I would like to begin by thanking my colleague from Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte. For several weeks now, he has been urging the government and the House leaders to give us this opportunity to talk about the Atlantic fishery, especially recent changes to the snow crab fishery. These changes resulted in significant cuts to the TAC: 63% in one year. My colleague from Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte has an important responsibility as our party's fisheries critic. For some time now, he has been asking the government important questions about why it waited so long to take action before this crisis started. His dedication to the fisheries has given us this opportunity tonight to talk to our colleagues about some very important issues.
It is important that the minister is so attentive to the issue this evening. I have enormous respect for the office of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, not only because my father was the first person to occupy it when the department was created in 1979, but because I think all of us who care about the fishery and about coastal communities on all of Canada's coasts understand the important responsibility the man or woman who occupies the office holds in the livelihoods of thousands of families and coastal communities that depend on her decisions and the decisions of the government.
With a lot of sincerity, the minister's interest in this issue is important to all of us. The tone of tonight's debate tells us that there is in fact a lot of common ground on all sides of the House. Members who have the privilege of representing regions that have a large concentration of fishers, who benefit from the economic activity in the fishing industry, understand that we need to work together to try to arrive at solutions that are reasonable and progressive.
I hope that in tonight's brief discussion I can offer my views on some possible solutions to what is a very serious crisis in the east coast shellfish industry.
I mentioned the significant cuts to the TAC. There is no doubt that a single huge cut like that poses a major challenge not only for fishers, but also for those who work in processing plants. Plant workers are often the unintended victims of these cuts.
In the past, my colleagues have often talked about trying to accommodate the seasonal nature of this work, which is completely dependent on the crab fishery, an unstable industry. One strategy involved employment insurance.
However, we believe that the government can do more to support plant workers by recognizing that employment insurance is critical to the economic survival of workers' families and their communities. However, the government also needs to recognize that economic diversification in coastal regions is critical. There are literally thousands of families that depend on jobs related to processing. The major reduction announced by the minister will have a devastating effect on these families because they will not be able to accumulate enough weeks of work to qualify for employment insurance. Even people who do qualify do not usually get enough weeks to make it to the next season.
One of the great challenges in managing an industry as difficult as the snow crab industry is the whole question around the sharing of the quota. The government made a decision to reduce, in a dramatic way, the quota this year. My colleague from Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte has been very articulate that it should have done so in a more measured way. It should have begun the reduction earlier and not waited so long for one sudden drop as we saw this year.
However, if we are to be fair with the government, we need to recognize a decision the minister made, which is certainly important for my constituency. Her decision was to maintain the permanency of the access given to the non-traditional fishers. These are inshore fishermen in my riding and others along the coast, including in the minister's own riding. The minister and I are separated by the Northumberland Strait. From my house in Grande-Digue, New Brunswick, I can see the lights of Summerside on a clear evening. Therefore, the minister knows, as well as I do, the importance of the lobster industry in communities like she and I represent. That is why it is important to thank the government and recognize that its continuation of a previous government's decision to maintain a permanent sharing arrangement is very important for the stability of this industry.
The lobster industry in my constituency has been very affected over recent years. Fishermen, for example, around the Confederation Bridge, those who fish out of Cape Tormentine, Murray Corner, even Petit Cap, tell me that one of the real challenges for them has been the Confederation Bridge. Various surveys around siltation, tidal patterns and water flow have indicated that the lobster grounds in and around the bridge have been severely affected. These fishermen are forced to go much further north to set their traps at a time when fuel prices can be prohibitive. Landings have come down dramatically. As members know, even from some communities, for example, in Kingston, Ontario, the lobster landings have gone down to a price that is also very low. This has led to serious economic hardship. That is why the government missed an occasion to do something important around the lobster licence retirement program.
The minister understands there is considerable pressure from fishers on both sides of the Northumberland Strait to look at measures that will reduce the fishing effort. That will help fishers who are basically eking out a very modest living and who often are unable, for example, to employ a helper on a boat for an extended period of time. My colleague from Saint John referred to some of the changes made with respect to groundfish in Newfoundland and Labrador.
In area 25 the lobster fishery is in that kind of crisis. This important effort to reduce the fishing effort through a licence retirement program is serious. Rather than asking the fishermen's union to borrow money from a provincial government and use crab revenue, which is dramatically diminished, as a way to finance an inadequate plan, the government could have put up public money. It could have successfully given the younger fishers a chance for a more prosperous future and allowed older fishermen to retire from the industry with some dignity.
That has been missing in the government's plans. The crab crisis makes it worse. At the end of the day, all of us on this side want to stand with those fishing communities that are going through a very difficult time. We want to support the plant workers through active measures and employment insurance that meets their needs. However, we also recognize that an immediate licence retirement program offers the best hope to answer the critical need in the lobster fishery that I represent. I hope the minister will see fit to implement such a plan.