Yes, it is correct.
Donald explained what happens in his area, and it works well for him and his group. One of the situations where licence buyout works is in small groups. His region is divided into little zones, “zonettes“ if you like. That is one of the reasons it works.
As well, it is not just a question of the government buying back the licences and then leaving the fishermen on their own. The licence will be reimbursed, the government will be paid back by the fisherman, who then reduces his effort. That is what we need to do now.
For example, a comparison of buyouts has been done for groundfish, a fishery where licences have been bought back. Everyone came from all around and caught the fish that would have been caught by those who had sold their licences. So the fishery filled up again. For us, licence buyout is the quickest way to reduce the effort.
But it has to be understood that we cannot stop there. Later on, we are going to be forced to reduce the fishing effort again, because it will come back. In effect, the system is set up for people to land as many lobster as they can throughout the season, depending on how many traps they have.