The reason we supported the bill in principle is that when advocating for the sealing industry, it's not very often that we get people who are what we would call like-minded. MP Kerr had the interest to introduce the bill and to increase the distance, and it's a good point in areas where people who are non-licensed may be accessing areas where there's sealing.
Our hope is that now that bill would lead to getting that 10 metres increased to a mile, and that would keep animal rights groups away. They do go in, and they can surround someone who is sealing and not let him get back to his boat. When you're out on the water with ice and all kinds of things it's not far enough.
With respect to air surveillance, they bring out helicopters and they'll hover over a crew for four, five, or six hours at a time, who can't very well seal because they are filming everything they do, and DFO takes the videos and if there is something there that is not according to the regulations, they could be charged. They give these films to DFO and they use them for enforcement purposes. If they have cameras, they can film at very long distances and all that, so there's no need for them today to be within 10 metres of a fishing boat. That's the critical part of this. It's to get at not only the non-licensed observers but the licensed observers too.