Earlier, I talked about harmonizing the north and south. After all, we are inventorying the same species and the same body of water, even though that body of water is split in two by some imaginary line put there by human beings. It is the same Gulf of St. Lawrence. If things are working so well in the north, why can't we harmonize the south with the north?
Scientists at the Institut Maurice-Lamontagne who are looking at the northern gulf changed their boat for a shrimp trawler, which is called a Campelen trawler. Why could we not use one in the southern gulf? We have been asking the advisory committee for these things for years, but to no avail. People are telling us that the data in the southern gulf are not changing. The U.S. is coming to see those data. I don't believe we have anything to learn from the U.S. We should do our own work. And if the system is working well in the north, we should be applying the same system in the south. People would just be happy about it.
We are not saying that cod is present in the same numbers as it was in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but we should allow Canadians to participate in the fishery. If we can catch some, we should have the right to do.