I can answer that. I would like to go back two years ago to when we had a public lecture at the Marine Institute, at which time Bob Applebaum spoke. That was the first I heard, as did Les, about this convention and these new provisions. My first reaction was to immediately write to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans at the time and advise him of my views on this matter.
Subsequently, I've been involved with the same group Les spoke of, which is the Fisheries Community Alliance. Through that group we have been advising the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and making representations to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to express our concerns about this, to the point where we requested that the government invite Mr. Applebaum and his people to a meeting. The result of that was that the premier wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of Canada, expressing strong views by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador with regard to this convention, asking that changes be made and that an objection to the convention be lodged.
Certainly I've been involved in this for the last few years. I feel this is a very important issue for the province, and it's one that I have dedicated a fair bit of my own personal time to.