Good morning.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for allowing me the opportunity to present before the committee.

I'm an owner-operator harvester and, I believe, the only one who has appeared before this committee thus far. Our operation is a family operation and contributes to the rural economy of Fogo Island and surrounding areas. Over the years, we have invested millions into adapting and growing our business as the industry changed. Today, we have 17 employees on the water.

The moratorium on northern cod was called on July 2, 1992. I was a young harvester at that time, just barely 22 years old. My father, brother and I had invested every dollar we had and borrowed heavily from the bank to build a 55-foot longliner that cost $700,000 at the time. That vessel was built with the expectation that we'd be fishing groundfish, mainly cod.

History shows us that ecosystems are susceptible to environmental conditions, food supply, predator-prey relationships, and the list goes on. Humans have very little control over most of those variables, but the one thing we can control is the amount of fish we catch, who catches it and the method we use to catch it. To some extent, maybe we can exert some control over the politics of the fishery. Most times, the fish are on the losing end of the political side of the debate, I believe.

Some may think that the reopening of the northern cod is a time to celebrate and be proud of the hard work and sacrifices that have been made over the last 32 years. A lot of harvesters have gone through their careers in that time, and many more, like myself, are nearing the end of their careers. Since 1992, we have lost generations of harvesters and knowledge. Communities have declined and withered, and some have disappeared altogether. Kids like mine did not have the opportunity to experience the nearshore cod fishery first-hand, as we had transitioned to fishing offshore for days at a time. That opportunity disappeared with the moratorium.

I realize that cod could not and cannot sustain rural communities across Newfoundland and Labrador, as it was expected to do in the past. Fishing operations require large capital investments and incur significant expenses associated with the running of day-to-day operations. The crew expect and deserve to make a good, meaningful living.

Should we celebrate the re-establishment of the commercial cod fishery? Of course, and we can take comfort that the stock is on a path to recovery. However, I have to ask a question: Have we learned any lessons from 32 years of moratorium? To be quite blunt, I don't think we have.

This fishery has been reopened with an 18,000 metric ton quota. This quota is minuscule in terms of the TAC at the time of commercial closure, which was approximately 225,000 tonnes. I can stand to be corrected on that. Although our quota pales in comparison to historical values, the minister made the decision to establish this fishery as a commercial harvest. This eliminated the management scheme under a stewardship fishery. In doing so, the minister has opened the doors to a variety of pressures on a stock that science says is still not rebuilt.

With the end of the moratorium, Canada is now obligated to give NAFO 5% of the TAC, which it can fish in 3L, I've been told. Foreign fleets can now fish in Canadian waters. With the current shortage in observer coverage, monitoring of foreign vessels will be challenging. How can DFO be sure that foreign vessels will not take advantage of the lack of observer coverage? Past enforcement does not give me great confidence in the ability of DFO to ensure adherence to TACs.

The department has given access to domestic offshore trawler fleets, as well as to new entrants that will likely be fished by bottom trawling. Fair access is paramount in a public resource, but it must not be at the risk of the resource itself. The northern cod is still at the very early stages of growth. Trawling in the areas of pre-spawning and spawning biomass has the potential to disrupt fish behaviour and impede recovery. Additionally, bottom trawling is a non-selective technology that can have the potential for large amounts of bycatch, not to mention the disruption of the benthic habitat. Environmentally speaking, trawling is a carbon-intensive fishery. This is not management under the framework of the precautionary approach.

In conclusion, after three decades, we seem to be on a path to repeat the mistakes of the past. Politics still heavily influences the management of the northern cod. The people of Newfoundland and Labrador have, historically, felt that cod was used as a political pawn to be bartered for, for other interests of Canada—most recently, when the Prime Minister reneged on a commitment to allocate the first 115,000 metric ton to inshore and indigenous harvesters.

Bringing back this stock to commercial status at this time was hasty, when it could have continued as a stewardship fishery until such time that the cod stocks could withstand higher harvest levels.

I'll quote a friend about the cod. I think it's quite fitting: “The lowly cod asks so little but gives so much.” Maybe we should keep that in mind when we consider how we manage the stock.

Thank you very much.