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LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

ACCOMMODATION OF TREATY RIGHTS

The Committee recommends that:

Any transfer of access to fisheries resources to First Nations communities must be accomplished through a federal government-funded voluntary buyback of a portion of existing commercial licences as they become available.

The emphasis should be on the acquisition of "core" multispecies licence packages for the local area for transfer to aboriginal communities rather than the transfer of lobster licences or any other particular species.

In order to encourage the sale of licences, the federal government should offer a limited lifetime capital gains exemption to fishermen.

Licences must be transferred to First Nations communities as communal licences.

Where local agreements can be reached to make room for new aboriginal entrants by fishermen each voluntarily giving up a portion of their quota of lobster traps, in a manner that does not increase the overall fishing effort, the federal government should support those agreements.

CONSERVATION

The Committee recommends that:

Fisheries must be managed with the long-term objective of conservation of fisheries resources.

Effective enforcement is crucial to conservation. DFO must rigorously enforce fisheries regulations with impartiality.

DFO must be provided with the resources to fulfil its obligation to conserve the resource. This means that DFO must have sufficient numbers of enforcement officers and that those officers must be provided with the equipment to do their job safely and effectively.

Aboriginal enforcement officers should be trained as full fledged officers with the capacity to supervise any and all fisheries or other enforcement activities. There should be one standard for all personnel to enforce the rules.

There should be zero tolerance for fisheries violations. Sanctions for illegal fishing or the purchase of illegally caught fish should include minimum penalties to provide guidance to the courts and to achieve more consistent treatment of offenders.

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT

The Committee recommends that:

Commercial fisheries for aboriginals and non-aboriginals must be conducted under one set of rules and regulations for all participants in a particular fishery.

DFO must enforce one set of rules for everyone and that it must have the resources and personnel to do the job.

A co-operative, co-management and community-based approach to management of fisheries should be promoted.

Snowcrab fishery co-management agreements and salmon watershed committee structures should be examined as possible models for the integration of aboriginal fishermen into other fisheries.

FOOD FISHERY

The Committee recommends that:

The food fishery must be controlled to ensure that it is being conducted as genuine food fishery and not an illicit commercial fishery.

There must be an examination of the question of whether the food fishery should be conducted during the same seasons as regular commercial fisheries.

There should be an examination of lobster fishing seasons and their impact on conservation.

DFO should vigorously prosecute, without partiality, all of those who take part in illegal sales of fish caught for food, social and ceremonial purposes. Any buyer caught illegally purchasing lobster for a second time should lose his or her licence in addition to any other penalty.

All catches of lobster whether in the commercial or food fisheries should be properly monitored and documented in order that DFO has reliable harvest statistics.

Regulations for the food fishery should be reviewed for the purpose of tightening them up in order to simplify enforcement.

LOCALIZED FISHING PRESSURE

The Committee recommends that:

As licences are transferred to aboriginal groups, particularly in the lobster fishery, a way must be found to prevent excessive localized fishing effort in order to avoid adversely affecting the health of stocks, particularly in sensitive areas such as spawning and nursery grounds. No greater fishing effort should be allowed than is already the case, including at the local level.

PROCESS

The Committee recommends that:

The federal government must be more proactive in facilitating the negotiations by providing stakeholders both aboriginals and non-aboriginals with funding and resources (including technical advice) to participate effectively in the process.

The federal government must put in place an interim fishing plan by spring 2000 to demonstrate its good faith. This plan could include: a fisheries training program; a reduction and sharing of traps in areas where agreements have been reached; leasing of licences; and, purchase of licences.

The federal government must provide DFO with the financial resources to accomplish this task in the next budget.

The mandate for the MacKenzie process must be amended to be more balanced and to let all stakeholders know that they have full access to the process.

REMAINING ISSUES

The Committee recommends that:

The issue of whether non-status persons of Mi'kmaq, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy ancestry are entitled to treaty rights affirmed by Marshall must be resolved.

The issue of whether treaty rights affirmed by Marshall apply to bands in Quebec must be resolved.

The concept of "moderate livelihood" must be clarified or better defined.