I think people will question this. I read the JPA when I took over for the Sablefish Association, and I have to tell you, it's brilliantly written. If we got one-tenth of the benefits out of it that we're supposed to get, I'd say hallelujah. The reality is the documents sometimes become less convincing in the results of real co-management. What they really have become is a thin veil for a mechanism to milk money out of the industry, to supplement without appropriations from Parliament the departmental budget.
Do I believe in co-management? Absolutely. Do I want a co-management agreement? Only one that works. I want a framework established by the department that's the same for every fishery on the east and west and north coasts of Canada. Every agreement is different. In some agreements, I pay 100% and he pays 20% and they pay 100% of his. What kind of system can you have in fisheries where there's not transparency, certainty, and some parity in the way it's done?
So in many respects I think it started off well. We need to continue to work towards co-management, because it is the best model, but it can't just be used as a thin veil for another pump to get moneys that otherwise should not be going in, through laundering fish into money, basically.