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September 3, 1996 Meeting today on foreign overfishing Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister John Efford is in Ottawa today for discussions with two federal ministers about a long-term solution to foreign overfishing on the Grand Banks. He is meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Fred Mifflin. Industry officials are also attending. Mr. Efford said that while much has been accomplished as a result of Canada's efforts to protect fish stocks that straddle Canada's 200- mile limit, "the threat of foreign overfishing resuming again is never too far away unless certain actions are taken both for the short-term and the long-term." Most urgently needed, he said, is for Canada to ratify the 1995 United Nations Agreement on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Species, and to urge other countries to do the same. "Ratification of the agreement by all countries involved is the best long-term solution to foreign overfishing," Mr. Efford said, noting that the United States just recently ratified the agreement. Meanwhile, he said, until an effective and permanent international fisheries regime based on the UN Agreement is established and functioning effectively, and the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) is reformed to provide for effective conservation of straddling stocks in NAFO-managed fisheries outside Canada's 200-mile limit, Bill C-29, the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, must be maintained as an effective deterrent to foreign overfishing. Bill C-29 gives the federal government authority to take unilateral action, where necessary, against foreign vessels overfishing stocks outside the 200- mile limit on the Grand Banks. Mr. Efford noted that all premiers, at their meeting in August, agreed that Canada should retain Bill C-29 until a more permanent fisheries regime is established and NAFO is reformed. The premiers also issued a call for Canada to ratify the 1995 UN Agreement, and press other nations to do the same, and work with other nations for effective reform of NAFO. "Canada's leadership to date to conserve and rebuild straddling stocks is indeed commendable. But unless these other actions are taken, the considerable progress made to date could be for nothing, because without them foreign overfishing is still a very real threat," Mr. Efford cautioned. "We cannot and must not take the risk of another free-for-all by foreign fishing fleets in the Northwest Atlantic. The people of Newfoundland and Labrador must never again be subjected to the economic and social upheaval that has occurred because of past foreign overfishing of straddling stocks," he said, noting that rebuilding and conservation of these stocks are critical to the rebuilding of the province's fisheries economy. The meeting today is scheduled for 2 p.m. Contact: Josephine Cheeseman, Director of Communications (709) 729- 3733. BACKGROUND
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