Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank both of our witnesses for appearing before us today.
I want to start out by saying that, in the end, I know what IFAW's main goal is, not just within the seal hunt but within all animal welfare—that is, the protection of animals in their environment, which leads to the protection of the human species. In many, many ways, such as the Sable Island Gully and many others, you should be congratulated.
But where I have differences of opinion is on the seal hunt. And, Rebecca, you're right. If that footage was passed on to DFO and if they have refused to move on it and charge, then the charges should be appropriate. The reality is, you are correct, this committee has unanimously accepted the commercial seal hunt, based on the evidence that is before us, in many, many years of observation. I, like many others, have observed the seal hunt, although I have not witnessed the rapid, as you call it on the footage.... I have seen others, so I have experience in that regard.
One of the things that I have, though, is that I speak to DFO scientists on a regular basis on behalf of our party, right across the country, Mr. Lavigne, and they say things differently than you're saying them. You appeared before us in 1999 and you're appearing before us now in 2006, and scientifically, you haven't changed your wording at all. Basically, you said the same thing before. But the scientists at DFO are saying something completely different—and not just one scientist, but several scientists.
I'm just wondering. It's like you get 100 lawyers in a room and you get 100 legal opinions. You get 100 economists, and you get 100 different economists' points of view. But in the scientific view, not just within DFO but within various universities in the Nova Scotia area and others, they're saying things differently, that the hunt can be sustained at 250,000, or the current TAC that is there now of 330,000, I believe. But obviously if global warming and serious things do take effect, there will be other mitigating factors that affect not just the seals but other species.
Are you saying, then, that DFO has its science incorrect, or are they telling us something that is not factual?