Thank you, Mr. Moore.
I would say that because I come from a small rural coastal community myself that, as the Minister for Fisheries and Oceans, I will never do anything that's going to undermine the conservation of our industry or of making sure that we have a long-term, sustainable fishery.
This is critical to us as Atlantic Canadians. It's also critical to us as all Canadians to make sure that first nations who have a treaty-affirmed right to fish for a moderate livelihood are able to implement that right. That is something the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on in 1999. I will always stand and say that conservation is the number one priority and objective. I have heard that from commercial harvesters and I've also heard that from first nations.
We all want the same thing. We need to figure out how we get there. In the conversations that I continue to have with commercial harvesters, with industry representatives and with first nations, they have all said that that is their overall objective.
I am not going to do anything at any point that is going to undermine that conservation objective. The commercial industry is extremely important to us in Atlantic Canada. We want to make sure that it is sustainable for the long term. Those are all things that I am working towards every day.