I have a question for the member. I told you earlier that the regulations are Canadian, and that the legislation is not consistently enforced to the same degree everywhere. I believe that my case in particular, from this year, provides a clear example. I was forced to put my boat through a stability test. At the beginning of 2006, I received a form from Transport Canada in the mail. It was a sort of newsletter to inform there was a possibility to make all stability tests mandatory. The same newsletter laid out different fishing scenarios. It used trawlers and scallop vessels as examples. Just as you had been explaining, I was asked where my fleet is located, and where within the group, my boat is located. There was also reference to herring and cod. The regulation under which the stability tests are mandatory had been in existence for some time. In the case of trawlers and scallop harvesting, this is entirely new, at least here on the coast.
Personally, I am in frequent contact with scallop harvesters. They are about 20 harvesters in the islands. The financial impact is substantial: we are talking about $7,000 to $8,000 in addition to problems relating to tracking the paper trail. Some people have boats that are 25 years old. That is another problem.
What makes me laugh, and what also is under my skin, is the fact that my fellow fisherman, who has a boat of less than 15 gross tons does not have to comply with the current regulation. I don't know if he also has to go through the stability tests, as I do, since my boat is more than 15 gross tonne.