A New Democratic MP said Monday that the federal government has shut down an advisory body that collected the views of fishermen to help make better science decisions."This is just a shameful decision," said Ryan Cleary, the MP for St. John's South-Mount Pearl. The Fisheries Resource Conservation Council (FRCC) was shut down on Thursday, he said.
Cleary said he was unsure whether the closure is part of a series of cuts at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans that are expected to save the department $56.8 million in the coming year.
The FRCC was founded in the early 1990s, in the wake of closures that rocked the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery starting with a moratorium on northern cod in 1992.
"This is basically a voice for fishermen.… The fishermen on the water are essentially scientists in a way," said Cleary, who intends to raise the issue in the House of Commons.
"When you axe this, you take away a critical, a crucial voice for fishermen."