Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (Nov 23/98) - Issues surrounding quotas on turbot in the Davis Strait were on the agenda in Ottawa last week.

Lawyer Michael d'Eca addressed the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on behalf of the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board Tuesday.

He told MPs Nunavut is simply not getting its fair share of turbot as compared to fishers from other provinces.

"Nunavut is in a unique and extremely difficult position," he said in a prepared statement. "Although it has only one economically viable adjacent groundfish resource -- turbot -- it is denied access to approximately three-quarters of that resource. The lion's share of the employment and revenues generated by Nunavut's adjacent turbot fishery go to fishers and companies located some 2,000 kilometres away from Nunavut."

He said no southern jurisdiction has to contend with more than 70 per cent of its adjacent groundfish resource being taken each year by fishers from other areas.

In Nunavut, about 20 Inuit have crewed the two vessels harvesting fish in the straight, d'Eca said in an interview. In the winter fishery, something Nunavut has pioneered, about 50 two-person teams have worked harvesting turbot in the past 12 years, depending on weather conditions.

Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell sits on the Commons' committee. She said she is trying to convince her fellow MPs to consider the issue of fairness as they examine this issue.

"Some people accuse us of trying to get an unfair advantage," she said. "We're just trying to get to a level playing field -- especially when you consider the costs (Northern fishers have to pay as compared to those in the south)."

She said fairness dictates Nunavut's turbot quota be raised from its current levels.

"We're not saying next year we should get 75 per cent (of the turbot quota)," she said. "We know there is only a limited number of fish to catch."

Karetak-Lindell said a special report by fisheries committee members on this issue should be released next month.

With it, she said, it will raise awareness in the nation's capital about the importance of the turbot fishery to Nunavut.