Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, on behalf of Naufrage Harbour Authority, I'd like to extend our condolences to Mr. Raynald Blais on the loss of his constituents in the tragic accident a few weeks ago.
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. My name is Gérard Steele. I'm a fisherman from the port of Naufrage, and I'll be giving the presentation this morning. With me is Darrel Lesperance, the president of the harbour authority, and Lewis Miller, vice-president of Naufrage Harbour Authority.
First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee for making it possible for us to appear before you here today, as we feel it's important to explain the conditions and operational needs of our harbour. As I'm sure you are aware, every port has its own challenges.
Just to give you a short history of our harbour, we became a harbour authority and assumed operational management duties approximately ten years ago. Since that time our committee, which is made up of volunteer fishers, has made progress in acquiring from small craft harbours budgets to repair and upgrade some portions of the wharf and also to do dredging, which is required on an ongoing basis.