The following statement was issued today by Premier Brian Tobin. It was also read in the House of Assembly.

The members of this Honourable House have probably read a news story in today's Evening Telegram which reports that Spain,

• "wants Canada to do away with legislation that enabled Canadian patrol vessels to seize foreign vessels suspected of over-fishing."

I believe the news story is accurate. Spain wants Canada to agree never again to use Bill C-29 to protect straddling stocks outside 200 miles.

Why does Spain want this? The answer is only too clear. Spain wants to lift the threat that Canada will once again act unilaterally outside 200 miles to ensure good conservation. While that threat remains ... as it does today ... there is a deterrent against Spain returning to the destructive pattern of overfishing that its vessels were guilty of from 1985 to 1995.

That pattern of destruction was ended by a series of steps taken by the government of Jean Chretien. The first step was for the Prime Minister to indicate shortly after his government's election in the fall of 1993 that unilateral action would be taken, if needed, to end foreign overfishing.

This was followed in May 1994 with legislation ... Bill C-29 ... that gave domestic authority for Canadian vessels to take enforcement action outside 200 miles where necessary to protect straddling stocks. That legislation was approved unanimously by the House of Commons and then the Senate. This approval was given in a matter of days.

Shortly thereafter, the federal government approved regulations against flag of convenience vessels fishing for straddling stocks outside 200 miles. Within a matter of a few days, the flag of convenience vessels that had been pillaging straddling stocks on the Nose and Tail of the Grand Banks had left that area. Because of Bill C- 29, they have never returned.

The third step was for the Government of Canada to use Bill C-29 to take unilateral action against Spanish vessels overfishing for turbot outside 200 miles in March 1995. That led to a Canada-EU fisheries agreement that, in September 1995, was adopted by all members of NAFO (the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization).

Those measures agreed by Canada and the EU and then adopted by NAFO includes 100 per cent observer coverage. This is extremely important to ensure that all countries fishing for straddling stocks do so in accordance with NAFO conservation controls, for example the controls against small mesh gear, against harvesting juvenile fish and against mis-reporting of catches. Those controls continue to be enforced through 100 per cent observer coverage and other measures agreed to by Canada and the EU in April 1995.

Those measures are working. In the year before the turbot dispute, EU vessels were cited for 58 major infractions of the NAFO conservation rules. I am sure that many more went undetected because there were no observers on the EU vessels. In the year after the turbot dispute, there was only one major citation. And, this was during a period when observers were on all the EU vessels, so that infractions would be more readily detected. And, fewer than half the number of Spanish vessels have come to fish in 1996 than did in 1995.

But this whole pattern of compliance with NAFO conservation rules is not just a matter of goodwill on the EU's part. Nor is it just a matter of the increased awareness by all countries ... including the EU ... that we can no longer ignore the need to ensure good conservation. Beyond this, the new pattern of compliance with NAFO conservation rules is a result of the deterrent effect that Bill C-29 has, backed up by Canada's willingness to use that legislation to protect straddling stocks, when needed.

While Spain may want Canada to abandon Bill C-29, I am confident that the government led by Jean Chretien will never do so. The Prime Minister and his government have made a strong commitment to do what is necessary to protect straddling stocks. They have backed up that commitment with actions. And, I am confident they will do so again, if that is ever necessary.