Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I want to thank our witnesses for being here today.
I'm from Newfoundland and Labrador and I'm quite familiar with the lack of science and research that's gone down over the years. It's certainly an eye-opener to hear some of the comments being made here today. We're well used to quota being taken for scientific purposes, and I always found a problem with that, whether it was here or in Newfoundland and Labrador.
I'd like to ask a couple of questions, if I could. In regard to this process of taking quota to fund science research, can someone tell me when that process started? How far back did some person in an ivory tower here in Ottawa come up with that grand idea?