First, in terms of the financial arrangements for NAFO, those are very much consistent with the financing formulas with respect to other international fisheries organizations in the world. It's reflecting the standard practices.
On NAFO, one needs to compare the existing 1978 convention and what it offers, where it offers parties the ability to object to a decision of NAFO, to set their own quota, and to fish their own quota for as long as they want, versus a new process that requires that there be an accountability, a transparency, a demonstration of cause and reasons for an objection, a process to try to bring a resolution to those objections, and ultimately a process to bring a closure to these types of situations. That is all within what is provided for within the international legal fisheries instruments that exist for the management of fisheries on the high seas, such as the UN Fishing Agreement and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
If you're looking at it in terms of a from-to, the proposed new convention is a significant improvement over the structure that we currently operate with. The new convention also is very clear that it operates within a recognition of the rights of the coastal state and the sovereignty of the coastal state to manage their fisheries resources within their exclusive economic zone. NAFO gives effect to measures on the high seas outside the 200-mile limit. There is nothing within that agreement that in any way compromises the sovereignty of Canada, and it allows a mechanism through which Canada can ensure that we have an effective management and conservation of transboundary stocks that overlap into the high seas and international waters to secure sustainable benefits for the Canadian industry on a long-term basis.
Is this new convention an improvement on the current situation or not? I would say the answer to that is yes. And yes, it's consistent with what we can do within the international fisheries instruments.
Finally, the sovereignty of Canada is protected and affirmed by this new NAFO convention.