Cleary calls for inquiry into NL fishery

Department of Fisheries and Oceans secrecy called into question

ST. JOHN’S - New Democrat MP Ryan Cleary (St. John’s South – Mount Pearl) announced that he will introduce a Private Member’s Bill to the House of Commons early this fall calling for a Commission of Inquiry into the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery.

“Today, five months after the federal election, I am following through on my promise to push for an inquiry into the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries,” said Cleary. “The time to rebuild is now, but to do that we need a solid foundation of information that only an inquiry can provide.”

Cleary spoke to reporters, as well as politicians and members of the fishing industry, in the same conference room where then-federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister John Crosbie shut down the northern cod fishery in 1992. The moratorium was supposed to last two years, but has yet to be lifted.

Cleary wants all aspects of the fishery examined, including the role of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), which oversees fishing outside Canada’s 200-mile limit. He noted that nine citations have been issued to foreign fishing trawlers over the past year but that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has withheld that information from the public.

“It has been almost 20 years since the first commercial fishing moratorium was introduced and there has been no healing of fish stocks, no substantial recovery of any kind. Why is DFO becoming so secretive about foreign over-fishing now?” asked Cleary.

New Democrat Fisheries and Oceans Critic, Fin Donnelly (New Westminster – Coquitlam) supports Cleary’s bill noting that the government launched a similar inquiry into the decline of sockeye salmon in BC’s Fraser River.

“Examining all the science and management issues surrounding the North Atlantic fisheries is necessary before we move ahead,” said Donnelly. “This bill and a subsequent inquiry will provide the information we need to get Canada’s fisheries back on track.”