I really appreciate the conversation we're having on this, wrapping our heads around what this could mean in terms of let's talk not just to our fishers but our shippers as well.
Through you, Mr. Chair, to our honourable colleague, we talked about the structure, composition, and the function of the ecosystem. When we're talking about ecological integrity I think in the conversation we had earlier on this topic, we talked about bottom trawling and how our fishers and some activities, whether it's exploration or something else, could damage some of those areas. But our ecosystem is always flowing, it's ever moving. We heard testimony from a number of witnesses that ecosystems flow, and whether we designate it with some invisible lines and boundaries or not, that ecosystem is always moving. This is, as you mentioned, about a network of marine protected areas. It could be applied more to a network of marine protected areas.
To the comment of my honourable colleague, Mr. Arnold, on whether it's shipping, whether it is other human activity, whether it's on top of the surface, whether it is below the surface, or whether it is impacting the solid structures of the marine base, this language could have an impact on that.
Again, we just announced an Arctic moratorium, because whether there has been commercial fishing or fishing in those areas, most of it is beneath the ice surface. Again, we have significant areas along our longest coastline that have a lot of trade that goes through, and we have international agreements with other countries in terms of shipping and trade.
To my honourable colleague, how would this impact that? Again, I appreciate the conversation and I'm glad you're here so that we can have this discussion, because now we're looking at ecological integrity at a few different levels. We're not looking at it just as the structure base; we're looking at it as a flowing system, whether it is, as I said, the surface or below the surface or the marine base, the land below it.