Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Members of the committee, I'd like to thank you for inviting us here today. This is an opportunity for us to provide an overview of the DFO science assessment and monitoring of snow crab and lobster fisheries in Atlantic Canada. The mandate of the DFO science organization is to provide information and advice for decision-making. In the context of fisheries, this means providing information on the status of populations, giving advice on levels of sustainable harvest, and using ecological information to make inferences about the current and future health of the population. In this way, the DFO science program supports the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's fisheries resources.
DFO science has approximately 2,000 staff, located across the country in 13 science facilities. These scientists, biologists, researchers, technicians and support staff support a variety of programs, including fisheries science. We undertake monitoring of fisheries in Canada's oceans, conduct research that addresses questions relevant to our mandate, and use this information to generate advice through the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat. This work is often done collaboratively with industry, universities, research institutes, other federal departments, and provincial and territorial governments. We also work with scientific counterparts internationally. Assessing the state of Canada's fish stocks is one of the most critical functions we undertake. It provides the fundamental evidence base in support of DFO fisheries and resource management policies. It helps to inform and guide decision-making.
Today, our DFO team consists of Mr. David Whorley, director of resource operations, and two of DFO's leading stock assessment experts, Dr. Darrell Mullowney and Mr. Matthew Hardy. We will present snapshots of two major fisheries, snow crab and lobster, which cover really only a portion of the much broader suite of science assessment and monitoring work we undertake on hundreds of fish stocks across the country. The overview will cover how we do our snow crab and lobster stock assessment and monitoring, provide a glimpse of overall trends, and then highlight stock status results in key management areas, taking into account considerable differences in ecosystems, environmental factors, species interactions and linkages that make these areas unique, and the ways in which they are changing over time.
On this, I now turn to my colleagues Dr. Mullowney and Mr. Hardy for their respective presentations. After they have completed their overview, we would be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.