This is an area of significant importance. In terms of the sponge reef, we already do have a no-fishing zone, and we expanded it recently. We probably need to do more. We're looking at marine protected areas or other vehicles on that.
There was a lot of controversy this spring at the UN and a sense that Canada wasn't leading the charge on a total ban. The reality was that a total ban was simply not going to happen. What was going to happen if we stayed in that is the UN resolution wouldn't have gone anywhere because there wouldn't have been a consensus. So Canada played a very constructive role at the minister's direction in moving this forward in a meaningful way.
We've also had the industry in the NAFO area work within NAFO to put certain areas out of bounds. We are working hard at rolling out a domestic policy that would bring reality to this. We've put a fair amount of science effort into this, and the reality is that the first impact does the damage, so we need to make sure that we're not starting to do damage in pristine areas. We're trying to focus on areas where we avoid that.
I would say the minister would be in a position in the next several months to roll out a domestic policy that's in line with what we've been trying to do internationally. We think the issue is destructive fishing gear, not just about bottom trawling, and certainly we don't think that total bans on bottom trawling that can't be enforced are necessarily the way to go. But we're absolutely seized of the issue. The minister's seized of the issue, and we're trying to make a difference.