I'm very satisfied with what has been obtained in these negotiations. Take, for example, the issue of a contracting party being able to object. In the current system, if a country doesn't feel it has enough quota, it just says to NAFO, “I object. I don't feel I have enough quota, so I'm going out to unilaterally fish whatever I want to fish.” That is currently not seen as illegal fishing. With these changes to NAFO, that will all be changed and we'll be able to put a stop to countries unilaterally setting their quota. That's why it's important that we adopt this amended convention.
On October 8th, 2009. See this statement in context.