Of course. As I said earlier, fishers think that the cod biomass in the southern gulf will be greatly harmed if we stop making regular checks of the situation, especially if we close down fishing. Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientists in the southern gulf go out in August. The situation can be verified, and that is why we are here today, as I indicated earlier. Year after year, they tell us that it is harmful, that things are not back to normal, that there is no cod, etc. Why then have all crabbers in the southern gulf been catching cod in their traps for the past few years? Because there is cod in the area. Scientists are simply not going out at the right moment.
Earlier, I gave you the example of someone who is sick, and who is left to die in a corner without being given a chance. Why couldn't a project such as what we are advocating not be created? In cooperation with the scientists, we could collect both qualitative and quantitative data. I think that is how we should work from now on. We would know exactly what is going on in the southern gulf, as was the case in the north. That is where the problem lies, Mr. Blais. Year after year, we have been putting those demands forward to the various advisory committees, because no one wants to change anything.
Another moratorium would be harmful because we think that the fishers would disappear. I am at an age when I will be retiring from fishing in the not-too-distant future. There are not many young people in the Gaspé willing to take up the trade. Because of the gloomy feeling in the fisheries and of all that has been announced, people are leaving the Gaspé, the Magdalen Islands or the Maritime provinces to work in the major centres. There are not many replacement fishers, but if we lose the expertise... As you know, cod in the Gaspé is a matter of culture. All the communities were developed around that resource.