ELECTION '08: Proposed fisheries act goes nowhere for the second time

By Tina Comeau

SOU’WESTER

So much for the new fisheries act…again.

For the second time in two years legislation to replace the approximately 140-year-old existing Fisheries Act has sunk like a lead balloon.

The first legislation, known as Bill C-45, died on the order paper after Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament in the fall of 2007. The next version of it, Bill C-32, introduced in Parliament a year after the first one had, fell victim to the calling of the federal election, set for Oct. 14.

“We had finally decided that we would be satisfied if the proposed act went through second reading…we would then require to have sessions with the Permanent Committee on Fisheries to discuss fine tuning,” says Christian Brun, executive secretary of the Maritime Fishermen’s Union said from the MFU’s Shediac, New Brunswick office. “We are disappointed that the proposed act won’t see the light of day in light of all the efforts by industry and governments.”

Instead, industry will have to wait to see the direction the new fisheries minister will take following the election.

Meanwhile, the MFU says it is rather disappointed that not all parties in the election campaign have made fisheries a more important issue during the election campaign. Mostly the MFU is disappointed that there has not been any substantive debate about the industry.

The MFU has been distributing surveys to federal candidates seeking their opinions and commitments to the future of the fishing industry in Atlantic Canada.

During this election, the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) is also seeking information on the positions of the federal party leaders on conserving wild Atlantic salmon and their environment. The ASF says it is concerned over the positions of the party leaders because while 2008 is shaping up to be a banner year for wild Atlantic salmon, it is one good year following many bad.

The federation is hopeful it is the beginning of an upward trend but says without strong federal government action backed by adequate budgets for DFO, the challenges remain.