PEI Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment Minister, Kevin J. MacAdam, has forwarded a request to Federal Minister Hon. Herb Dhaliwal, requesting that Bluefin tuna quota be made available to allow PEI fishermen to return to the water by this weekend.
The PEI fleet has caught an allocation of 105 MT and now according to the current management plan must sit and wait for the reallocation date of September 16. "To be forced to sit on the shore while tuna fishermen in all the rest of the Atlantic areas continue to fish is a bitter pill to swallow," said Mr. MacAdam.
"The management plan that allocates a similar quota to the seven management areas in the Atlantic, regardless of the number of licenses in each area, has not been fair to PEI for some time," said the minister. "PEI fishermen hold almost 50 percent of the licences yet are denied any adjustment on quota."
"Island tuna fishermen worked long and hard last winter to come up with a management plan that was more workable knowing that this situation could develop. This plan was not accepted and now the fishermen are shut down," said the minister.
I am supporting the PEI industry and have asked the Federal Minister to alleviate this situation and make tuna available from that quota set aside for reallocation by September 8. This will allow the fishermen to return to the water and continue their efforts before poor weather sets in later in the fall," concluded the minister.