Thank you to our guests.
I'm not sure if I have a lot of questions for you gentlemen today, because it seems like your crazy fishery has fluctuating numbers. Some of the stuff I've read here says that in March 2018 DFO released its findings showing that the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence striped bass population increased to over 300,000 spawners in 2016, and over 10 times the recovery target, and that “The median of the estimated spawner abundance in 2017 was 994,000”. However, the estimated spawner abundance fluctuation varied widely from a low of 486,000 to over two million.
Those are some crazy numbers in terms of fluctuations.
First of all, Mr. Mallet, you mentioned in your presentation that we should probably be considering striped bass as bycatch for lobster fishermen. Is that correct? Did I hear that right?