P.E.I. Fishermen's Association wants separate minister for fisheries

P.E.I. Fishermen's Association president Craig Avery says the province needs to have separate ministers for fisheries and agriculture.

During his presentation to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Agriculture on Tuesday, Avery said it's important to have a full time fisheries minister to deal with issues like the minimum lobster size and the recent loss of halibut quota.

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"Once a week we get something new that's been changed in Ottawa and we feel that this is a big portfolio," he said.

"It represents $175 million a year into the economy and we feel it's much too big for one portfolio and we also feel there's conflict within the two with agriculture and fisheries and we feel we're entitled to our own minister and we're going to continue to push until we get our own minister."

Issue raised

Avery said he raised the issue with Premier Wade MacLauchlan when the ministries were announced and was told to "give it a chance."

Fisheries critic Colin LaVie said he agrees with the idea of separate ministers for agriculture and fisheries.

"Yeah, there's conflicts there with these two portfolios when you talk deep water wells, when you talk contamination there's different issues with the same minister and he's definitely in conflict."

Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker said the two departments are combined in other jurisdictions.

But he agreed that on P.E.I., where farming and fishing are two of the biggest economic drivers, there is a case to be made for separate ministers.

Bevan-Baker said he wants to hear more before coming down on one side of the issue or the other.

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