Thank you for your question.
It's not being considered, because nobody will listen to our plan. The minister will not listen to our plan. We forwarded it. We don't think there was a genuine consultation period. We've repeatedly asked to meet with the minister. We think it's easier for the government to wash its hands of this industry for this year and just get by it and hope for next year. That's sort of always their answer. They've had two previous closures. They could have worked on this. They know their two previous closures didn't work. We're at the same crossroads now.
To put the legal fishermen aside is callous. I think it's a cowardly act. They've bent to the criminals and said, “Listen, you can have the fishery this year. We are going to stand on the sideline.”
I would like to tell you that our plan also included a lot of activity with the CBSA to designate airports so that only one airport could be an export point. That was a suggestion by the CBSA.
Deputy Minister Gibbons said, when she testified in front of you, that there were a lot of illegal eels mixing with legal eels. Well, that may be the case for a second-party buyer. If you are an exporter and you buy from fishermen, you can buy from legal fishermen and illegal fishermen, and then put them together. We said we would ship our eels directly out of the country so they wouldn't have the opportunity to do that.
We've come up with serious, concrete solutions, and nobody will listen.
Thank you again for your question.