Thank you very much for those questions. Of course, they are all important.
Many of you know that Mr. MacAulay and I are from the same province.
I'll start by responding to your question on the stacking of lobster licences. I do believe that industry consultation is key to what happens in the industry. All of us around this table will still have a paycheque next year, or next week, or next month, no matter what changes are made to the fishery. I believe that changes that are made should come from the fishers themselves. I believe they will better take ownership of the management of the fishery.
Stacking is a policy in place available to those who fish out of Southwest Nova. One element of that policy, which has been in place for quite a while, is that two fishers can share one boat but fish 150% of the traps as opposed to 200% of the traps, so it actually takes some traps out of the water.
As a measure, I guess, to help with the viability of fleets, there were a couple of other situations proposed, which some of the fishers have taken up. One is that one person could actually own two licences and fish 150% of the traps. That's currently in place in Southwest Nova. There's a third option whereby one captain could fish on his licence and another person's licence, with 150% of the gear, but the second captain did not need to be on the boat. Those measures were put in place to help with the economic viability. At the time, fuel prices were very high. Those are options that were available in Southwest Nova, and they're currently not available anywhere else. They're not available in P.E.I. simply because they haven't been discussed with the fishermen in P.E.I.
On the 10-point plan, I will say—and this is the same thing as I said about stacking—I believe the changes and the conservation need to come from the bottom up. I believe the fishermen need to be consulted. A number of items were put on the table for consideration. I have said to the different fisheries groups that it's up to them to go through these different items that were put before them for consideration, and they would come up with what was doable for them.
The issue of rationalization has come up, particularly right in the Northumberland Strait, on both sides of the strait, in LFA 25 and LFA 26A. There are a number of different ways that rationalization can take place. Some of it has taken place on both sides, both in New Brunswick and P.E.I. out of LFA 25 in past years. I have said that I will work with the different groups. There is the community adjustment fund to help industries such as the fishery, and I hope we'll be able to take full advantage of that fund.
When it comes to the processors, difficulties in getting financing have been addressed in the budget under a measure called the business credit access program, which is basically a government guarantee that would allow private banks and private lenders some security in what they may see as otherwise a more risky venture when it comes to lending. So it should make credit more accessible to processors.