Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses from the department.
Your introduction spelled out some of the scientific parameters that are so essential to proper resource stewardship. We are aware that in numerous lobster fishing areas there has been a decline, and a somewhat dramatic decline. Some areas have been stabilized. That's not to minimize this particular issue, because it is very serious, but it's also something that's been around for a while.
The perfect storm that seems to be hitting the lobster industry is resource uncertainty in certain areas as well as economic uncertainty. Your presentation did not touch at all on the economic variables and the uncertainty facing fishermen in the industry. You did note that 25,000 Atlantic Canadians and Quebeckers derive their living from this particular industry.
What can you tell us about what the department is engaged in to help stabilize the economics? What specific marketing initiatives is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans pursuing or intending to pursue to bolster the economics of this particular fishery and to raise the landed values to our fishermen, who have now had lobster prices cut in half? Why is it that industry rationalization is now getting greater emphasis within the department, yet no publicly sourced funding is available for industry rationalization through lobster licence retirements or buyout packages? Why, in the most uncertain economic times the lobster fishery has faced in recent history, are fishermen themselves having to buy each other out, with no genuine or sincere access to capital to do so? Is that creating a circumstance of prescribed failure?
Could you just relate what measures you have in place in terms of bolstering the economics of this fishery?