I'll try. I'm not precisely familiar with the metrics you're talking about in terms of the catch rates. What I can tell you to begin with is that lobster, for the most part, is our biggest fishery in Canada. It's our most important fishery dollar-wise.
When lobsters shed their shells, like all our shellfish species do, they grow into a larger shell. Their next activity is to feed as much as they can to grow into that larger shell and get the muscle back into the shell. When they do that they're very vulnerable, they're very hungry. When there's a lobster fishery during that time of year, in the summer season when lots of lobsters are either molting or soft shell, yes, there may be very good catch rates, but there may be very high mortality.
For example, if those lobsters were hauled to the surface when they're in the soft-shell state, in many cases they're going to be considered as no good. If there's no meat in the shell you'll have a shell that will be practically empty. In many cases that will be discarded. When it gets discarded it's very fragile. That lobster, at that time, when it breaks the surface of the water is very fragile. Even if it's handled very gently and put back into the water, it may float away, because there's nothing in that shell, only water. If the water drains out of it, it will float away. In many cases it's discarded in a way that it's not going to get back to the bottom, or it's injured because it's so fragile.
Even though the catch rates may be very high, that's not necessarily a good fishing practice. I would think we need to focus on getting the best quality and the best yield with the least mortality for the greater protection of the resource.