Scientists with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans say they don't have enough staff or money to do proper research.

Scientists say years of cutbacks in the 1990s have left core programs underfunded. That includes research on fish stocks, which is used to determine fish quotas.

An internal report prepared by 15 fisheries scientists calls on senior management to either restore funding to previous levels, or decide which research it wants to forego.

Joanne Morgan, a member of the committee that wrote the report, says she and her colleagues across the country can't fulfil their mandate.

"Within a section you decide that you just don't have the resources to do a particular area of research anymore, and you don't do it," she said.

The report calls on managers in the department to pick their priorities and then give scientists stable funding.