Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a response to an oral question asked by Mr. Picco on February 10, 1998. Mr. Speaker, the fair allocation of fisheries resources continues to be of considerable importance to the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT). Our government is an active participant in the Federal-Provincial Atlantic Fisheries Committee, enabling senior officials to raise the issue of Nunavut fishing enterprises. Both I and the Premier have

attended past meetings of the Atlantic Council of Fisheries Ministers. In that forum, we have clearly articulated the importance of our growing fishing industry to the economy of Nunavut, as well as the obligations of the Government of Canada under the Nunavut Land Claim Final Agreement.

Shrimp has been a success story in Nunavut since 1986. That success is due not only to accessing adjacent stocks, but also the sharing of access in southern waters. Concentrations of shrimp stocks have shifted from the north to the waters closer to Newfoundland over the past several years. Since Nunavut companies can fish in both northern and southern waters, the viability of our northern shrimp enterprises has been ensured.

The decline in the cod fishery off Newfoundland has resulted in a significant increase in the size of the shrimp resource. This leads to a temporary allocation of resources to many enterprises in Newfoundland. The only additional shrimp allocated outside of Newfoundland went to the members of the Northern Coalition made up of shrimp enterprises from Labrador, Nunavik and Nunavut.

While the GNWT supported the allocations to Nunavut through the Northern Coalition, we protested the decrease of Nunavut access as a proportion of the overall Canadian shrimp resource. When Mr. Anderson was appointed Fisheries Minister last summer, I made him aware of our views. We now expect new shrimp quotas to be allocated in 1998. I will be contacting Minister Anderson and outlining our support for Nunavut enterprises in gaining fair access to these and other Canadian fishery resources. Thank you.