The fishery usually takes place. In a given year, we start the fishery. There are observers, people hired by an independent company. They come aboard our boats to assess the catch, that is to say the composition of the catches in the traps. These are independent individuals who do their jobs. They send the figures to Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The fishing continues.
At the end of the fishing season, roughly in mid-July, Fisheries and Oceans Canada starts its trawl survey. When the department starts the trawl survey, it already has the information from the spring fishery. It already has the assessments of the at-sea observers. So the department conducts the trawl survey. It usually finishes it in late September or mid-October.
Starting in late September, mum's the word: no one's allowed to know anything. The department tells us that the figures haven't been compiled and the work isn't complete. It continues that way into October, November, December and January—we're not allowed to know anything. In February, the department publishes a first preliminary document with figures. It's only preliminary. That continues until the meeting of the advisory committee, which usually meets in mid- or late March.
Then the department comes up with the final document. Between the submission of the preparatory document and the advisory committee meeting, there is a peer review. The document is reviewed by all scientists around the world to see whether there have been any errors. Lastly, the document is submitted to the advisory committee.
To my knowledge, that's how it happens in the course of the year.