Through the MOU process, DFO officials have been at the table. I've been in politics since 2003, and I know that if I want to find out what information is on the go, it usually gets back to me, so I'm assuming that this is getting back to the federal level.
Also, I met on February 15 in Halifax with Minister Shea and her officials and indicated to her that the MOU is under way, and that we would be coming forward to the federal government. As I said earlier, I intend to be going to Ottawa within the next short order. I will again point out the progress we've made and the expectation as to where we need to be and where the federal government needs to be in terms of support for this.
The best ones to lay out a path forward are the people who are directly involved in it. The FFAW, the ASP, the provincial government...we are into this up to our ears. We know what it's about and we know where we need to go.
The federal government has certainly been engaged along the way over the years, and the history of this points to where they've been with it. The point that we will be at if we can find a successful resolution and agreement amongst the parties at the table in the MOU will be what we will eventually present to the federal government, and the expectation would be that they would be there to support it.
What we have to do on the ground right now is work out the details as to what it is that we want from them. As the minister for this department, I certainly will be updating Minister Shea on that progress, and officials in our department are in contact with Minister Shea's deputies and assistant deputies and so on and so forth.
Around the issue of value added, it's certainly something that we always need to look at, but I think it's critical, though, that we get further along in our marketing. As was pointed out in this presentation, we bring to the market 65% of the snow crab that enters the market from Atlantic Canada. As such, that is something we have to strongly look at.
As I said before, the unions have always supported it, but I'm pleased to see that the Association of Seafood Producers has come a long ways in it. Hopefully before the next season starts we will have something that has progressed to a stage where we can finally get something out there in the market, something that will show a strategy that has been developed between the parties involved at the table.