I'll start out by saying that each enterprise has a maximum vessel eligibility. We've spoken about that before at this committee. In Newfoundland and Labrador, that's primarily divided into two fleets for the inshore sector, 39 feet 11 inches and below, so less than 40 feet, and then 40 feet and above. Depending on the fishery that a harvester participates in, it can go up to 89 feet 11 inches, which is quite a large vessel.
In addition to the primary vessel, which is what those vessel eligibility break points speak to, harvesters are also able to own, operate, and register secondary vessels. We do not compel any harvester to use four vessels. Those are decisions that harvesters are making based on the operational profile of their enterprise and the fishery they're participating in.
For example, a harvester may choose to use a smaller vessel, one of his secondary vessels, to participate in a fishery where the allocations or their available quotas are much lower and closer to shore. With the costs associated with harvesting those, it might be inappropriate to use a larger vessel.
Those harvesters are making those decisions themselves as independent business people, based on the cost and revenue profile of the individual fisheries they're participating in. There is no DFO policy that forces them to do that. They are making those decisions themselves, within those maximum eligibility break points that we've already spoken about.