Mr. Kerr was wondering about money that was put into the marketing end. I want to be clear that I'm happy to hear about any money that comes in to help market our lobster and get me a better price. I'm not condemning it. But at the end of the day, the $450,000 somebody mentioned here earlier--I think it was Mr. Bonnell, about some brochures at the Boston Seafood Show and a cassette or CD with some filming--is good, but it's the tip of the iceberg of what we need to get this thing going again.
I took the liberty of bringing the brochure. It's very pretty. I'll pass it around if everybody wants to have a look at it. There's the folder and the brochure. I haven't got the cassette with me. The money was issued a month ago, and it had to be spent by the 31st of March. It's spent. It doesn't take much to spend $450,000 today. We're looking for between $3 million and $5 million right now to try to get this thing kick-started again.
I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Morrissey in a minute, because he's speaking on behalf of fishermen on the rationalization side for our area. But on financing, I pointed out in my presentation that we support processors. The processors and brokers haven't got financing in place. They're no different from the auto industry. They're going to be shutting down. There are hardly any of them left now.
There are ways to slow down the fishery, but there are so many lobsters there. Fewer traps in the water may help to slow the catch down, but at the end of the day we're probably going to catch just as many lobster. We're quite efficient in our business. Like I said, we need financing for the processors and brokers so they can buy and move their product in an orderly fashion.
We're like anybody else. I spoke about this with the provincial government. Everybody knew last fall, when lobster was $3.25 a pound, that things were going to be tight this spring. So don't wait until next April when I'm trying to fill out my income tax return. I had a tough year last year, at $4.50 a pound. I mean, we lost $30,000 in our income. Fuel and bait and everything was up 35% to 40%.
Take a proactive approach today. Before the end of the season, put something in place so we have a share of some of this money coming down. We're as important here in Atlantic Canada as the oil and gas industry in Alberta and the auto industry in Ontario. We could use help as well.
Fishermen are people with a lot of dignity. They're probably right at the bottom of their credit lines and everything else, and they're not going to come out begging. That's what we do on their behalf. If we can put something in place before the end of our lobster season and before area 25 starts in August, it would be greatly appreciated.
Like I said, on the rationalization side, I'll pass it over to Mr. Morrissey. He's the area 24 rep, and he's working on the rationalization plan for the whole area.
Unless Lawrence has something else....