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

Mr. Speaker:

I take this opportunity today to draw to the attention of Honourable Members a significant development being announced respecting the northern shrimp fishery of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Honourable Fred Mifflin, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, is at this time announcing that the 1997 quota for northern shrimp is being increased by 21,450 metric tonnes over the 1996 quota of 37,600 tonnes. I am delighted to report that about 90 per cent of the increase is for Newfoundland and Labrador.

What is also very significant for this province, Mr. Speaker, is that for the first time ever, the inshore sector is being granted access to this growing adjacent resource. This is something the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been consistently demanding, so that people adjacent to the resource can be the primary beneficiaries of the economic value associated with this extremely valuable resource.

The quota increase, along with the participation of the inshore sector, present significant economic and employment opportunities for people along the northeastern coast of Newfoundland and in Labrador.

As Honourable Members may be aware, until today only offshore vessels have been involved in the northern shrimp fishery. Of the 17 offshore licences issued, only eight were for Newfoundland and Labrador. Total landings of 30,000 metric tonnes in 1996 had a market value of more than $120 million. However, few benefits accrued to Newfoundland and Labrador because the inshore fleet did not have access to the resource.

Today, Mr. Speaker, that changes.

It is estimated that the market value of the increase in the quota has the potential to reach $75 million. Similar increases are expected for employment. For each 1,000-tonne increase in the quota, about 150 individuals could be employed in the harvesting and processing sectors combined. The northern shrimp resource has the potential to employ between 2,000 and 3,000 people who traditionally made their livelihood from the groundfish fishery.

Mr. Speaker, the increase in the northern shrimp stock has been attributed to the decline in northern cod, a major predator of shrimp. The moratorium on northern cod had its most severe economic impact on the same regions that are adjacent to the vast shrimp resource.

Inshore harvesters who once fished cod in these areas now have an opportunity to harvest the shrimp resource and generate much needed economic activity in the regions most severely affected by the groundfish closures.