Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A week ago today I talked about my optimism for the Baffin fishery. Today I am pleased to report some new developments.
In response to a letter sent on March 27, 1996, on behalf of all Baffin MLAs, the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, the Honourable Fred Mifflin, has sent a reply to us, care of Mr. Arlooktoo, dated May 16, 1996. The Minister included with the letter a copy of a letter he had written recently to the chair of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board, Mr. Ben Kovic.
Mr. Speaker, I am encouraged by the contents of the Minister's letter. In his letter he stated, "I understand the importance of marine fisheries to the people of Nunavut." In his letter to Mr. Kovic, the Minister also noted that weather has devastated the 1996 winter fishing for inshore turbot, as I have already described in this House. Taking that bad weather into account, the Minister stated that he would allow unfished inshore quotas to be transferred to offshore fishing for Nunavut in the amount of 970 tonnes.
He also agreed that again in 1996, Pangnirtung Fisheries will be allowed by the Minister to arrange to charter a Newfoundland vessel to fish for turbot in area "0," since they do not yet have a vessel of their own.