Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you to our witnesses for appearing here today.
It's interesting to hear some comments. I think it was Ms. Nowlan who said when John Cabot came here, his boat literally got stuck in cod. You could scoop them up in a basket. Twenty-five years later, since the cod moratorium, we still don't have a viable commercial cod fishery, still with no rebuilding plan for a fish that's been listed in the “cautious” or “critical” zone for quite some time now, probably 25 years or longer, because the stock that was still fished commercially prior to 1992 was very low as well, yet a commercial fishery continued.
Where do you think we've gone wrong in that particular fishery, for it to be 25 years later...? Have we ignored predation, and I'll mention Mr. Morlock and his comments about the seals, because we can't get anyone to tell us what seals really eat. We have no proof they eat cod. We have no proof they eat salmon. If they're not eating those fish, they should be skinnier than my pin, but every seal you see is as fat as can be. They're eating something out there, and I suggest they're probably eating a lot more cod than anyone thinks they're eating, or anyone is willing to admit they're eating.
Again I'll go back to my question, where do you think we've gone wrong with that particular species, for it to be 25 years later and we're still in a very critical zone?