Lawrence O'Brien

[Fish Farming, February 19th, 2001]

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise in the House today to respond to the motion put forward by the hon. member for Davenport. I thank him for his continuing interest in aquaculture.

Canadians want to know the implications of aquaculture for the environment. For Fisheries and Oceans Canada the matter is a very high priority. The program for sustainable aquaculture announced by the minister last summer is an investment in aquaculture's ability to grow and flourish as a key Canadian industry. It also ensures that such growth does not come at the expense of our aquatic ecosystems.

Over the past decade DFO has undertaken a number of initiatives to examine the environmental impacts of aquaculture. Since the announcement last summer, the department has accelerated its work in this area.

We do not support the hon. member's motion for an entirely new study of the issues posed by aquaculture, simply because such work is already going on.

In past reviews a large part of the work has already been done. For such a relatively young industry, aquaculture has been the focus of rigorous studies and reviews over the past decade. There have been federal studies, provincial studies, international studies and industry studies. A number of these have included indepth public consultations.

[Mamquam Blind Channel, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, safety of all harbours and all ports is a very fundamental and important issue. I can say that the fundamental issue is safety. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans will look at all aspects and we will report to the member at a later date.

[Mamquam Blind Channel, October 5th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I will certainly take the information and the question under advisement. We will report to the hon. member at a future date.

[Financial Consumer Agency Of Canada Act, September 26th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I want to be recorded as having voted yes to this motion. I was not in the House for the previous motion.

[Fisheries, June 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is quite simple. The paramount issue with DFO is conservation. We look at it from a scientific point of view and make changes accordingly. We made a positive change this time. If the stocks show a significant difference in biomass another year, it will be reflected under the conservation rules, as it applies to all fisheries.

[Fisheries, June 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, as the hon. member knows, the crab fishery in Atlantic Canada is a case of peaks and valleys. In this particular case, we are very fortunate that we have a peak. As a result, there has been a major increase in the quota. We are very pleased with it.

As he has pointed out, this year the fishers in that particular area will see a $43 million fishery. That is an increase of $30 million. As the fishery moves along from one year to the next things may change, but we are very pleased to have come up with this format. It is a good one.

[Criminal Code, May 2nd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed quite gratifying to hear the comments from my colleague and great friend. I salute his mom once again for a great breakfast in Richmond, B.C.

I will say this much to the hon. member. While I did come fully prepared to speak with notes today, I will make him a promise that the next time I make an adjournment debate speech, I will speak without prepared notes. That is a fact. I will make my points and I will make them the way he did which was in a most compelling way. However, I have the pleasure right now to speak from notes.

It is my pleasure to speak about the progress that has been made to accommodate aboriginal peoples in Atlantic Canada pursuant to the Supreme Court of Canada's Marshall decision of November 1999.

The conditions are coming into place for a successful, orderly and regulated fishery in the maritimes and Quebec. We have now made interim fishing agreements or agreements in principle with over half of the aboriginal communities. We expect that most of these will be in place by June.

We listened to the voices of the fishing industry who asked that a voluntary licence retirement program be used to make room for aboriginal fishers in the commercial fishery. We initiated such a program over three months ago and have received some 1,400 applications and have acquired over 350 licences so far.

The approach is working well and we are matching supply and demand. The overall number of aboriginal entrants remains low relative to the total of 23,000 vessels and 44,000 fishermen—

[Fisheries, April 14th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the hon. gentleman that so far we have concluded eight agreements with the aboriginal parties, i.e., first nations. We have eight more agreements in principle in negotiations right now. We are making great progress in concluding agreements.

I can tell the hon. member also that last Tuesday the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans met with the standing committee. He released information on licences at dollar value by species. We will continue to release information as it becomes available. But most important, we will conserve our stocks—

[Division No. 1266, April 10th, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would like to have my vote recorded as no on the vote just taken.

[Modernization Of Benefits And Obligations Act, April 3rd, 2000]

Mr. Speaker, the recent assessment of Newfoundland snow crab concluded that the stock has declined. Research surveys indicate that the biomass of commercial size crab declined by 45% from the fall of 1998 to the fall of 1999, and that the biomass of smaller crab, which will enter the fishery in 2000, also declined.

We are taking these warning signs very seriously. We should not try to draw simple parallels between the collapse of the cod stocks and the current situation with crab. The biology of crab and the nature of the fishery are very different from those of cod and other fin fish. For example, the crab fishery targets only larger males, using traps designed to allow smaller males and all females to escape. All stocks are inherently variable, with shellfish stocks generally displaying greater variability.

Snow crab resources go through natural periods of abundance and decline. Crab stocks were at record high levels through the 1990s, and the department has given warnings on many occasions that decline should be expected when environmental conditions change.

In all of our public consultations, particularly at the snow crab management seminar held in Newfoundland in 1999, we have advised the industry that the high level of abundance seen in recent years would not be sustained due to the natural fluctuation of the stock.

Conservation of the snow crab resource is the priority. The management of this fishery in 2000 will take full account of the current status of the resource to ensure that conservation is not jeopardized.