John Cummins, M.P.
Delta-South Richmond		 News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 6, 2000

Minister Has Lost Control at Burnt Church

 

OTTAWA--"The Minister of Fisheries has lost control and is no longer the regulator of the lobster fishery in Miramichi Bay," said John Cummins, M.P. (Delta-South Richmond).

Even allowing for the on-going 40 trap, 40,000 lb lobster fishery by natives at Burnt Church seriously undermined his legitimate authority to manage the fishery for conservation purposes as reaffirmed by the recent Marshall clarification.

DFO biologist Marc Langteigne advised the Federal Court in New Brunswick of the risks involved in allowing for increased fishing pressure on lobster stocks in Miramichi Bay such as that represented by the out-of-season fishery by natives from Burnt Church currently in dispute:

"Any increase in the number of traps in LFA 23 is equivalent to an increase in fishing pressure and goes against conservation objectives of increasing egg production and reducing fishing effort."

"In these circumstances...the risk of recruitment failure is unacceptably high...The margin of safety that may have existed previously is being eliminated...the presence of a very high and increasing fishing effort exerts a pervasive pressure both on the resource and on the ability of fisheries management to attain conservation objectives regardless of other conservation measures which might be put in place."

"Any localized increase in fishing effort will result in a local increase of exploitation rate (removal rate), which will result in an increased removal of potential breeders. Any increase in fishing pressure goes against the conservation recommendations of the Fisheries Resources Conservation Council...and would therefore, represent a conservation issue to the lobster population in the southern gulf, including the lobster resource in LFA 23."

The commercial lobster season closes at the end of June because the lobster move into the shallow waters of the Bay to moult and spawn. They are at their most vulnerable stage.

Fishermen in Malpeque Bay, P.E.I. where seasons and conditions are similar claim that 10 traps fished during the summer months are equivalent in effect to the 3000 they use during the May/June commercial season.

Sources within the Minister's office confirm that the 40,000 lb. allocation to the Burnt Church Band has been reached.

"It is time for Minister Dhaliwal to reassert DFO's legitimate authority to manage the fishery resource, close the lobster fishery in Miramichi Bay and vow to never again allow for a fishery when lobster are at their most vulnerable, spawning and moulting," concluded Cummins.

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For more information, please contact:

John Cummins, M.P.
(613) 992-2957
(604) 970-0937 (Cell)