My understanding is that, in 2023, there were consultations held by DFO, and people were invited to come and participate in the new model. The LRP emerged from the new model of 2023.
My understanding is that the scientific.... Peer review is an important process in science and in the management of fisheries. It means that all the authorities.... You need to have peer-reviewed publications. You have science. That's how science works in today's world. You have to have not just the people who are invited by DFO to come and review the documents, but the people who come because they're interested and want to have access to the models, be able to simulate the models and just see how the models comport with the previous data.
We had so many royal commissions and reports, like the Harris report and the various reports that made conclusions about the fishery. It would appear, based on the new model, that many of those reports have gone out the window and that we had not a clue in the nineties what was happening to the resource. You have a lot of distinguished scientists who got their names certified and written on documents and publications, and now we're being told they were wrong.
It's a big event in Newfoundland and Labrador because it's a dispute over whether this fundamental resource is sustainable or not sustainable, and whether we've been doing a good job. What you have here is that the science people used—the science that Michael Kirby used in recommending that we harvest up to 400,000 tonnes and the science that Les Harris used in 1990 to say we should be reducing the quota down below 100,000 tonnes—is all flawed because now we have new information going back to the fifties.
I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm not a scientist. I have no right to make any statement like that, but I think there needs to be a more open, public forum where people can come—and not just by invitation only. There needs to be a better process. My sense of this is there's a lot of—