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Concerns about the walleye and sauger fisheries on Lake Winnipeg and call for eco-certification

On Wednesday October 31, I raised concerns about the future of the walleye and sauger fisheries on Lake Winnipeg and called for the Pallister government to implement its commitment to eco-certification of the Lake Winnipeg fishery. 


Fisheries Management

Lake Winnipeg ECO Certification
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, I table graphs which show the declining commercial harvest of walleye on Lake Winnipeg and the increasing proportion of small walleye. The small walleye caught are not mature, and only half the female-sized walleye are mature.
      As a 2011 quota task force review says: Ideally,  one to two years of maturity should pass before the fish become vulnerable to the fishery. But in Manitoba this year, about 80 per cent of the fish being caught were immature. Catching young fish is putting the Lake Winnipeg walleye fishery in danger.
       To ensure better management of the fishery, I ask the minister: When will she have the ECO certification of the fishery of Lake Winnipeg completed?
Hon. Rochelle Squires (Minister of Sustainable Development): I want to thank the member opposite for a question about the sustainability of our fisheries, which is something that our government takes very seriously.
      The former minister of Sustainable Development had moved on mesh sizes, and we are working towards ensuring that we do have sustainable fisheries and that our fish stocks are well-maintained for now and future generations of fishery.
Madam Speaker: The honourable member for River Heights, on a supplementary question.
Mr. Gerrard: Madam Speaker, it is not just walleye that are threatened. The sauger population is in grave danger, as this 'papel'–paper I table shows. Under the NDP the sauger were extirpated in Lake Manitoba in 2007. In Lake Winnipeg, 'sauga', an important fish, has declined 96 per cent.
      I ask the minister: Is her Conservative government going to be like the NDP and have sauger extirpated from Lake Winnipeg on her watch, or is she going to deliver, as soon as possible, a recovery plan for Lake Winnipeg sauger and move rapidly to ECO certify the Lake Winnipeg fishery to save the sauger and the walleye in the lake?
Ms. Squires: Well, I can assure the member opposite that we will not do like the NDP and ignore the science when it comes to our fisheries and the sustainability of our fisheries.
      However, I can also assure the member that catches on the lake are very seasonal and weather dependent, and there are certain datasets that are showing that sauger catches have been increased on certain areas of the lake. We're looking at all the data and making decisions based on the best interest of the fish in our lakes.
Madam Speaker: The honourable member for River Heights, on a final supplementary.
Mr. Gerrard: I have reviewed the science on the sauger, and they are in dire straits. In October 2016, the former minister of fisheries said of ECO certification: "We'd like to have it done sooner rather than later."  In May of this year, the current minister, when asked about ECO certification, said: "We're pursuing this with great excitement.".
      The mandate letter to the first minister of fisheries was to develop a credible strategy for fishery certification. The mandate letter to the second minister no longer has the word credible.
      I ask the minister: When will she implement ECO certification on   Lake Winnipeg, and will it be a credible implementation?  
Madam Speaker: Order.
Ms. Squires: While members opposite are busy counting the adjectives in my mandate letter, we're busy looking at the fisheries and ensuring that we have a sustainable fishery for all Manitobans.
      We will not ignore the scientists like the former NDP government. We will not ignore international bodies who are talking about the sustainability of our fishery. We are taking action to ensure that we do have sustainable fisheries here in Manitoba.
The walleye catch on Lake Winnipeg from 2012-2018

The  percentage of the catch of Lake Winnipeg walleye which is small, medium, large or jumbo for 2012-2018. 

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