Madame Speaker, I am pleased to formally report to the house that the management plan for the snow crab fishery has been announced by the Federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. Once again this year, our existing snow crab fleet, along with other fishermen in this Province, will have access to this important resource.
The total allowable catch, or quota, in the gulf has been reduced by 20 percent this year. As well, the biomass estimates for the Prince Edward Island zones are down from last year. As a result, the quota in zones 25 and 26 this year is 750 metric tonnes, down from last year's level of 1000 tonnes. Also, the Prince Edward Island share of the temporary allocation from the mid-shore to non-crab fishermen has been set at 435 tonnes, compared to 600 tonnes last year.
Notwithstanding, Madame Speaker, there are a number of positive gains for the snow crab fishery in this Province. First of all, there is a real sharing of the zone 12 mid-shore fishery with non-crab fishermen. There had been proposals that would have resulted in only the mid-shore fleet fishing the resource, and we objected to that approach.
I am very pleased that Mr. Mifflin has again provided temporary access for non-crabbers to the mid-shore resource. This will result in significant direct economic benefits to fishermen, processors and plant workers, with added income and employment.
I understand as well that a long-term agreement has been reached between the Prince Edward Island Fishermen's Association and the Snow Crab Fishermen Incorporated on sharing the resource within the Prince Edward Island zone.
These organizations are to be commended and congratulated for working out such an important agreement.
As well, negotiations are ongoing between the Fishermen's Association and the Groundfishermen's Association to ensure that groundfish dependent vessels will receive some benefits under the overall snow crab quota.
Again, Madame Speaker, I am pleased that Prince Edward Island will benefit from sharing the snow crab resource in 1996. Last year, the additional allocation resulted in an increase in landed value alone of more than five million dollars.
There are still a number of outstanding issues related to the long-term access of our permanent snow crab fleet that I want to discuss with the Federal Government.
We have made progress over the past two years and will continue to work with the industry and the Federal Government to ensure that this Province continues to benefit from the snow crab fishery.