Minister insists adjacency principle remain in Northern shrimp fishery

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister John Efford today took exception to recent comments made by Gerry Byrne, MP for Humber St. Barbe-Baie Verte, regarding allocation of the Northern shrimp fishery off Newfoundland and Labrador and a request by a PEI company for access to the resource.

Minister Efford said Mr. Byrne�s suggestion that it is time for the provincial government to �raise objections� to any potential change to the shrimp management plan that would allow new entrants into the fishery shows how the MP is out of touch with this issue.

"I don�t know where Mr. Byrne has been for the past few years, but I have been extremely vocal about this issue, clearly stating government�s position on the adjacency principle for this resource. I have made the issue a priority at the last four national fisheries ministers meetings and have also written a number of letters to the federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans demanding that the adjacency principle in the Northern shrimp fishery be maintained. We�ve stated very clearly that Newfoundland and Labrador will accept nothing less."

Minister Efford stressed that if changes are made to the new shrimp management plan that compromises Newfoundland�s access to this resource, the responsibility will rest on Mr. Byrne�s shoulders.

"Mr. Byrne is the federal Member of Parliament in Ottawa where the decisions are made and therefore he should be doing everything in his power to ensure Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will continue to have priority access to Northern shrimp... if PEI is given access to this shrimp resource then Mr. Byrne will have to answer to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, especially the people on the Northern Peninsula," said Minister Efford. "I have always been at the forefront on this issue and now it�s time for Mr. Byrne to do his part in Ottawa to protect Newfoundland and Labrador�s access to the shrimp resource."

Minister Efford said he has stated vehemently during numerous conversations with the fisheries minister in PEI that until PEI is willing to share their lobster resource with our province then under no circumstances will Newfoundland and Labrador even consider discussions regarding the Northern shrimp resource.

The expansion of the inshore Northern shrimp fishery over the past couple of years represents a great success story in the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery, and Minister Efford said he will continue to work diligently to ensure that the shrimp resource will be allocated only for the full benefit of our province and the people living in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Media contact: Sonia Glover-Sullivan, Communications, (709) 729-3733.

2000 06 13                                     1:40 p.m.