Yes, we did have a number of presentations by DFO scientists on a variety of species of fish and what was found.
If I could, Mr. Perkins, I'd just like to explain something to the people here.
Last year during COVID, we were following what was happening in terms of stomach sampling in Newfoundland. The protocol here in Newfoundland has been to use the same fishermen year in and year out, for a decade or more, from the same community, and at the same time of year, in the winter months of December and January.
Now, what I am about to say is probably a bit shocking, but I'm going to say it. I spoke personally to the fishers who collected the stomachs. These stomachs were left in the fishermen's boats, or right out on their wharves, for a period of months before they were collected by DFO. That's hard to believe, but it's factual.
I thought, well, maybe that's due to COVID. Maybe this is not the normal practice. But when I asked, they told me, no, this is what happens.
So in terms of stomach sampling and how to determine what a seal eats, if we were using fisher science, and fishers were trained to document what was in the stomach when it was freshly taken on board.... They can easily see and identify a herring, a capelin or a mackerel, because when the stomach is fresh, the fish are also fresh.
Can you imagine the degradation of the stomach after being left unrefrigerated for weeks and months on end? Yes, you can do chemical analysis later. Yes, you can determine that there was a codfish there. But I think the stomach analysis from both spatial representation and seasonality....
To say that there is no stomach analysis in Nova Scotia or Quebec is crazy. This can be done. Industry wants to do that tomorrow. They want to start this program tomorrow. They want to take seals—