Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being with us today.
Canadians need to trust the science, but it is also part of our role to question how fish stocks are assessed and how decisions are made.
In the past two weeks, for example, the department has made decisions that have impacted my region, such as the closure of the spring herring fishery, the closure of the mackerel fishery and significantly decreased shrimp quotas.
I'll start with herring. The herring fishery is closed. The industry had been expecting this for several years, as there has been a noted decline in the resource.
I know Mr. Hardy is from the Gulf region. So, my question is for him, and it's strictly about herring.
Mr. Hardy, how do you make the decision to close a given fishery? How do you collect the data? At what point do you decide to close a fishery?