The provincial government isn’t buying Ottawa’s explanation for allocating a thousand metric tonnes of yellowtail flounder off Newfoundland for the United States.
Gerry Byrne calls it a give-away with nothing in return, but the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says otherwise.
DFO says the transfer to the U.S. will help protect Canada’s allocations of straddling stocks and will reinforce our important relationship with the United States on fisheries management cooperation.
Minister Byrne doesn’t follow the logic. He says the Americans have never had any quota allocation of yellowtail in Canadian waters.
He says if we’re buying conservation support by giving away our fish, then we have a bad result no matter what happens, as a result of NAFO (Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization).
