Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good morning, Mr. Bevan. Congratulations on your appointment. Some might say that it is high time that you were appointed to this position, given your vast experience.
Before meeting with you this morning, I was wondering which issues I would want to raise with you. Indeed, there is the matter of the crab, which we are currently studying, the issue of aquaculture as well, but when you mentioned the seal hunt, you awakened a beast in me which told me to take advantage of the door you opened.
However, before I get to that, I cannot help but bring up the decision taken in 2009. Or rather, I'd like to talk about the years before that. Unless you can prove the contrary, I believe it is impossible for the department not to have known, in 2007, 2008, well before 2009, that the quotas had to come down at all costs.
Ever since I've been in politics—it's been about 7 years now, even 10 years—I have been hearing about the snow crab cycle. Therefore, this was nothing new; this was something which was known. So we all knew that, at some point, the cycle would dip, as far as the biomass was concerned.
In 2009, there absolutely should have been a reduction, but why was the quota not reduced before? Were there any signs of what was going to happen or none at all? You held that position at the time.