OTTAWA — Canada’s fisheries minister wants the G7 to use military and other surveillance technology to name and shame countries that are conducting massive illegal overfishing operations.
Dominic LeBlanc isn’t ready to name countries yet, but he says he has seen recent Canadian Forces satellite images that shocked him — and would shock the conscience of others if they were made public.
LeBlanc says one image was especially disturbing — it depicted an eight-kilometre long net that was scooping more than 400,000 kilograms of wild salmon in the Pacific Ocean.
He hastened to say that none of Canada’s G7 allies are involved in illegal and unregulated fishing.
Canada has made protecting the oceans one of its key themes when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosts his fellow G7 leaders in Quebec in June.
The government has said its oceans agenda would focus on reducing plastic waste and tackling the threat of rising sea levels, but LeBlanc’s comments today suggest a much tougher, more aggressive approach.