Good morning.
My name is Joel Gionet. I've been fishing for crab since 1983. I started as a crewman on the family boat and, in 1990, became a captain among the crew. I'm still captain in 2010. So I've lived through the last three cycles. I saw the bottoms of the three cycles. The first—the worst—was in 1989-1990, the second in 1999-2000, and we're now in the third, this year, in 2009-2010.
At the end of each of the last two cycles, we never cried out; we never said anything. We knew we were going to take advantage of every effort we made for the resource. This spring, when the minister announced cuts in harvest rates of more than 60%, I believe all the guys were expecting cuts. Starting in the early 2000s, everyone around the table knew we were going to exploit the stock a little more extensively than in the last cycle. However, I don't think anyone was expecting such draconian cuts.
At the same time, to throw a little oil on the fire, the minister announced the “stabilization of new access” until 2014. Scientists are ringing alarm bells, and the minister makes a nice statement that she's stabilizing new access until 2014. Two or three weeks later, she announced cuts of 63%. This is an enormous problem for the traditional crab fishermen.
Then the department pulled itself together and found a solution: lay off the members of our crews and group together two or three on the same boat to fish so that we can make room for newcomers. That's the solution they found. Pinch me, someone! I don't think there's any logic in these kinds of decisions.
Thank you very much. I'll be pleased to answer your questions.