I'd have to check, Mr. Stoffer, to find out, but the individual who relayed that to us also said that it was not their decision, that it had been sent up the flag to Ottawa.
So somebody in Ottawa had looked at this and said it was business as usual, which was rather arrogant, and they continued through. So the point we've tried to make in exchanges to the minister is you simply have to stop this paternalistic approach to dealing with fisheries.
The issue of the allocation of quotas is one, but the bigger issue is the context or the milieu in which the department at a senior level out of Ottawa deals with the fishers of Canada. We're hoping that this alone would help us to change that, so that when you had co-management, it was real co-management to try to change the paradigm on the relationship.
I want to tell you something, Mr. Chair. One thing that my members would do, we'd pay for all the science in our fleet if they allowed us to manage our fleet. But to have to pay and leave management to other places is not what we're prepared to do. If the Government of Canada wants to play the major role in managing the fisheries, then they should pay a proportionate share or a proper share of the science to manage those species.