I know the trend has been to look at it as one biological stock. I'm not a scientist, so I certainly can't argue against what science says, but there is also scientific evidence that possibly it is not one stock. There is definitely a migration of crab that comes into area 19 from the Scotia Fundy side. That's been proven in the spring trawls that have been conducted for the last couple of springs. Also there are differences in the carapace condition. The overall carapace average size is 19 versus 12. There are differences in the size of the females, the quantity of females per ratio of males in area 19. So there definitely are differences in the stock between area 19 and area 12.
As far as believing it to be one biological stock, it's the same as the human population, I guess. We're one biological stock as well. Where you live may determine how long you're going to live. If you live in Moncton versus the Gaza Strip, maybe you'll have a better chance here. So being in area 19 or area 12, we feel there is certainly a difference for the future of the stock, basically because of our practices and how we fish.
I think DFO management must take into consideration the difference in practices, the differences in the geology of area 19, the different water depths. Area 19 has considerably deeper water than a lot of areas. Only three miles off the coast you can drop down to 600 feet of water, which is pretty unique in the southern gulf. There are definitely things that DFO management must do to try to split area 19 and area 12, and not lump us all under the same category.