Fisheries biologists—and as you know, I'm one of them—always hide behind the idea that we never have enough information, and that's always an excuse not to act. I utterly reject that. DFO is a highly qualified department and sometimes you have to act.
In terms of the striped bass-salmon interaction, things are out of balance now without any human interaction. I would agree with you, Mr. Chaput, but right now the system is out of balance, so it is time to use the striped bass to help restore the balance. I would not say the striped bass are the sole reason for the decline, but they are a very large factor based on the numbers.
I want to talk again about recommendation 7.3 in the report of the advisory committee. It recommended a greatly increased catch of striped bass, and that's a recommendation obviously that the department did not accept.
In terms of seals, the report talked about a massive and growing seal population and, in the report conclusion 6.3, the report recommended allowing seal harvests and culls in other areas where they are clearly targeting wild Atlantic salmon. Did the department accept that recommendation? Given the issue of seals with regard to snow crab, cod, and other important species for people, is intensive seal management something that the department will be recommending in the near future?