July 2 1992 Dear John Crosbie, Fisheries Minister, My name is Neil O Brian and I own a restaurant that serves

gourmet fish, called Ocean Blue. For about10 years, I ve served cod, haddock, blue fin, tuna, tilapia , mackerel and salmon, but mostly Cod. Cod was cheap, accessible, and fresh, but now I have to order my fish from cities away. It comes frozen and my costumer flow has dropped by 20%. I will soon have to pay $2 000 dollars for second-rate fish, while before I would only have to pay $400 before the best, freshest fish possible. And now you have completely closed off the industry! I will have no more cod. Half the entres were cod! I will have no more costumers. Do you know what that means for a restaurant owner? First, I have to lay off my employees. Then I will have to downgrade my meals so they re more like the meals in the fish and chips nearby. I will surely go out of business! Even if you do manage to stop every one fishing for two years, I am sure the cod will never come back. My son is a scientist, he works to help replenish the cod population too. He says we pushing the cod to the brink of extinction. Now, I m no scientist, and the most I can do is cook a fabulous meal, but my son is one of the smartest people I have ever met. You might have heard of him; Dr. Drey O Brian? Anyway, he says that even if we don t fish cod for the next century, the population will still go down. He says us humans are going to expand our area to include nearly one third of the ocean in the next millennium and pollution will also poison many of the fish. I do know that cod thrive only in very specific areas, the major one being here. If they re overfished and not going to come back anyway, what s the point of not fishing them? It will only cause unnecessary distress for everyone in the city, and they re only going to die out anyways. Drey says in 10 years the cod will only be at one percent of their historic levels and in 10 years, I am going to restock my restaurant with less fish and more chicken, pork, and beef. Well, looking back at my letter, I realize I sound very selfish. I would just like you to know that this involves everyone I know: my friends who work at restaurants, people who work at fish factories, and draggers. Our town is entirely dependent on this cod fish, and with all due respects, it should not be you who banishes it.

Sincerely, Neil O Brian.

_________________________________