Yes. In fact, Mr. Chair, this whole concept has somewhat come full circle, both locally and in Ottawa, in the sense that we met in front of Transport Canada and DFO officials not 14 days ago, and the point was being clearly made that there is a relationship between hull design--the Transport Canada issue--and vessel length and cubic metres.
Of course, DFO was adamant on the point that the relationship is not there, that vessel length and cubic metres were strictly a conservation issue, and that unless the fleets went to a full ITQ system, they were not prepared to investigate or consider any changes to vessel length. That point was made perfectly clear, and colleagues, this is the point that was being made in St. Anthony.
I think that as professional boat builders, you would probably suggest to this committee that in terms of the many incidents and concerns coming forward now, the issue is not one of hull design, but potentially one of building up and out. What I would think you might suggest to this committee is that if there were vessel stability tests done on a number of vessels that were being constrained because of vessel length, but not being constrained in terms of building up, many of those vessels would probably fail the stability tests, and those affected by that--because they were being closed in, in terms of vessel length--would face probably $300,000 or $400,000 in expenses to get their vessels to meet stability requirements, because they'd have to tear down their entire decking and then consider building a few extra feet on.
You examined the Newfoundland shipbuilding industry, as you do your own. Would that be your personal or professional opinion, that if you were to go with this particular system, almost all boats here in Nova Scotia would probably pass the stability test, your issue being that it would probably cost each and every one of those vessel owners $15,000-plus to do so?
There really is an issue. The constraint in Newfoundland and Labrador.... That particular fleet, in terms of changing fisheries and moving further and further afield, further and further offshore, is constrained by the vessel length and cubic considerations and has been going up and up and up.
If this regulation were put in place today, the impact on the fleet in Newfoundland and Labrador would probably be the most significant. I'm not going to pass judgment here, and I don't want to send the message that Gerry Byrne thinks every vessel in Newfoundland would fail a stability test, because I don't believe that, but there is a concern that many vessels would fail that test, and the only alternative for them would be to completely tear down their decking at a potential cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.