Thank you, Mr. Chair and Mr. Doherty.
Earlier this morning we heard the minister refer to the belief or perception that a marine protected area is basically a national park in the ocean. There are similar beliefs among the public that in a national park the same issues or the same guidelines apply as in a marine protected area.
National parks are basically no touch, no take, no wildlife management. They are totally hands off, even for park staff. How do you propose to manage MPAs under those rules when we have issues such as burgeoning seal populations that are impacting other fish stocks in and outside the MPAs and when striped bass populations are exploding in certain areas? How do you propose to manage within the MPAs if the public's vision is that an MPA is a national park on the water?