In that case, I'll start again.
I thank the witnesses for coming.
If we have to provide a little pedigree regarding our experience, mine is closer to the land, since I saw my father crying in his canoe. He told me one day to eat cod and enjoy it, because if we stop the seal hunt, in a few years we'll see cod disappear from the St. Lawrence and just about everywhere.
Today we are reaching a pivotal moment when a moratorium that shook the entire fisheries and fishing community many years ago will be lifted. We hear that the moratorium on northern cod will be lifted. As with redfish, large shares of the new quotas are being given to offshore vessels. In the past, we were taught that this was a very aggressive fishing method for the biomass, which had the repercussions we're familiar with today. It seems we're not learning from past experience.
Minister, I'd like to know if you make any connection, if you see any correlation between the recent redfish quotas that were given, the historic shares that have been given to offshore vessels, and the fact that we're also giving them some for the northern cod fishery. Are the dangers the same? Is this as illogical, according to what we hear in the field, in both cases?