Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The honourable Members will recall I have spoken previously about my constituents' effort to develop a successful turbot fishery off the east coast of Baffin Island. Since the outset of this project, Pangnirtung fishermen have found that in addition to the
ground fish, a large number of Greenland sharks are also included in the incidental catch. Mr. Speaker, these sharks damage the long line fishing gear used by our fishermen, resulting in increased operating costs. More important than that, perhaps, is the fact that hundreds and hundreds of pounds of shark must be left on the ice to spoil. Throughout history, Inuit have been the world's greatest conservationists, Mr. Speaker. It goes against our cultural values to see this waste take place with one of nature's creatures. If we are to take the lives of these fish, then we should be able to make use of them as our elders made use of animals and fish they harvested in traditional times.
This is made even more unfortunate by the fact that markets do exist that would enable Inuit to harvest and sell shark products. This would be one way in which we might make sure that these animals did not die without a purpose. Mr. lpeelee Kilabuk, who served in this House so well for many years, realized this, and he repeatedly called on the former Minister of Economic Development to make some initiatives in identifying market opportunities for shark products. Over and over, the response was that the department was working on it, but virtually no progress was ever made.
Mr. Kilabuk was promised, for instance, that Pangnirtung fishermen would be trained in salting and drying techniques that would reduce the costs for shipping the sharkskins. He was told the arrangements were being made with an American tannery to produce exotic leather. He was told that research was being carried out to investigate the international sale of market shark meat. In each case, Mr. Speaker, I believe the department failed to follow up....