Mr. Waddell, with all due respect, I take offence to your comment on Ms. Jordan's question to you, where you said that you are not the safety experts. Why are you here? We are studying vessel length. This committee wants to know the background and the methods that go into the decisions affecting vessel length. If you can see that you have a committee of parliamentarians who are confused, can you imagine the fishers who are out there who have appeared before our committee and are also confused?
I would suggest—and this is a bit of grandstanding—as I did to Transport Canada, and to the TSB as well, that it is high time that these departments, these organizations, get their act together, because it's costing people's lives, it's costing people's livelihoods, and there is much frustration out there. For you to come before the committee.... I appreciate your testimony; you're just being honest that you're not the safety experts in this, but that is what we are studying today. It's what goes into vessel length policy. What are the decisions that go into that?
Ms. Perry, I have a question for you. As Ms. Jordan and others have mentioned, we've had numerous fishers appear before this committee on a number of different studies. As I alluded to earlier in my questioning, time and again we hear that DFO has abdicated their responsibility to FFAW, as well as to other organizations such as WWF in terms of policy and making the decisions in Atlantic Canada.
One of the last testimonies we heard was that in Newfoundland it depends on the connections that you have with FFAW and DFO on what regulations apply to you, who you are, and in such areas as boat regulations, lease options, quota transfers, quota pushovers, and designation of operators. What do you have to say to that comment?