Minister to attend resource ministers meetings

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Trevor Taylor is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan this week for the annual meeting of the Canadian Council of Resource Ministers, which includes the provincial, territorial and federal ministers responsible for fisheries and aquaculture issues.

On the province�s agenda is the European Union (EU) tariff on Canadian shrimp, an Aquaculture Framework Agreement and ensuring northern cod is not listed as endangered under the Species at Risk Act.

�The annual provincial, territorial and federal ministers meetings are a great opportunity to bring national attention and understanding to issues that are a priority in our own regions,� Minister Taylor said. �The meetings go a long way to building critical alliances with other provinces facing similar issues and presenting a united front in advancing files on a federal level.�

Minister Taylor will take the opportunity to solicit the support of the other provincial ministers of fisheries and aquaculture on the important issue of the 20 per cent EU tariff on Canadian shrimp. The province and the federal government have committed to establishing a working group to immediately convene to find solutions to removing the tariff barrier.

The province expects to see movement at the meeting on the development of an Aquaculture Framework Agreement. The department has been aggressively pursuing a framework agreement similar to what exists for the agriculture industry. A framework agreement would provide valuable business risk management, technological and research supports to help the industry grow.

�I�m particularly pleased at the cooperative approach of Atlantic Canada fisheries and aquaculture ministers in pushing, on a national level, the issue of an Aquaculture Framework Agreement which is crucial to the development of the industry in this region,� Minister Taylor said.

The minister will be joined by senior officials within the department and, later in the week, by Environment and Conservation Minister Tom Osborne. Minister Osborne will attend meetings of ministers responsible for wildlife and endangered species. The two ministers will use the meeting to strongly call on the federal government to not list northern cod as an endangered species under the Species At Risk Act.

Minister Taylor will also participate in the meeting of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers on behalf of Natural Resources Minister Ed Byrne. Agenda items important to this province include improving the competitive nature of the industry, softwood lumber, the Kyoto Accord and a national wildfire strategy.

Media contact: Tracy Barron, Communications, (709) 729-3733, 690-6157, tracy.barron@gov.nl.ca

2005 10 03                        10:50 a.m.