You are absolutely right. You talked about preserving our infrastructures. Those future breakwaters would most certainly protect or prolong their useful life. With respect to the costs, I mentioned earlier that it would be around $800,000 but that is increasing. If those breakwaters do not result in a reduction in that $800,000 cost, then at least they would prevent future budgets from being used for more dredging.
We in the Association des pêcheurs propriétaires des Îles-de-la-Madeleine feel we do not have the necessary resources to undertake a cost study. I imagine that a recommendation on that would have to be made to Fisheries and Oceans Canada for our region, Quebec. The department must have that kind of study. Otherwise we could ask it to undertake one.
I would like to add a comment in response to a question that was put previously. Without trying to start a debate, I would like to point out that when Quebec's budgets are calculated, the formula that is used includes certain criteria such as the size of the fleet, because we are talking about vessel size. In Quebec, and especially in the Magdalen Islands, we significantly downsized our vessels in the 1980s and the 1990s. Our downsizing has been done, contrary to some other regions. I am not sure, therefore, that this is reflected in criterion no 2 which deals with fleet size. I'm not sure that an adjustment was actually made. Once again, I am not here to provoke a debate, but I do think there should be consideration for the fact that we undertook significant downsizing, contrary to other regions, elsewhere in the Maritimes and even in the Gaspé.