Thank you for inviting me on.
I only got the notice yesterday afternoon, so I never had much time to prepare too much for it.
I've been involved in the fisheries since I was 13. I quit school and went fishing. I'm 71 now and I'm still at it. It's a good life and I like it. We had good times and we had bad times over the years, but if we worked hard enough we always made a living at it. Sometimes we worked harder than we wanted to, but that's part of fishing.
I was hoping I would get to see other people first so I'd know what you were expecting, but I didn't. I'm the first one.
I did meet with...I'm not sure if it was MPs or senators back around the late 1980s or early 1990s with Mike Belliveau. We were in Ottawa at that time. We spent about three hours and they asked us questions. They even stayed after their time and shook hands with us and everything else.
I've been around the fishery and I've been representing fishermen since 1973. The first groundfish meeting in this area took place and I was at it. I've been at the groundfish meetings ever since then. I don't have a whole lot of education, but I have a whole lot of knowledge about the fishery.
Other than that, if there are any questions you want to ask, I'll answer them as best I can.