Cracking down on drift-net fishing

Oct 06 2006 SA Observer
Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes is praising a crackdown on illegal fishing in the north Pacific Ocean. The departments of fisheries and oceans and national defence have been targeting high seas drift-nets. "We're getting tough and bringing the hammer down," said Mayes. Mayes is concerned that such activities threaten Canada's fish stocks and challenge its sovereignty. "We need to be good stewards of the resource," he said. Since 1992, Canada has enforced a United Nations moratorium on illegal fishing operations. Officials say such illegal fishing threatens entire marine ecosystems in the north Pacific.