Federal Conservative Fisheries Minister Gail Shea is showing total disregard for conservation when it comes to a cod fishery in a critical state in southern Newfoundland, Liberal Fisheries and Oceans Critic Rodger Cuzner said.
Last week, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced it would be postponing the annual March 1 conservation closure in the southern Newfoundland cod fishery, needed to protect spawning cod, because a few private companies had not yet caught their quotas.
Mr. Cuzner, the M.P. for Cape Breton-Canso, raised the issue during Question Period today. He noted that since the moratorium ended, fishermen have been committed to and actively involved in protecting and rebuilding the stock in Area 3Ps and they were not consulted by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on this critical decision.
“This decision flies in the face of all science and places this entire stock at risk,” said Mr. Cuzner. “The basic science of this is very simple: fish come together and congregate when they spawn, so now they are even more easily caught. This whole generation of spawning cod gets scooped up.
“The decision to ignore the annual spawning season closure is wrong. This government is risking a 1990s cod fishing moratorium all over again.”
