Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My first question would be for Mr. Sullivan and Ms. Morse.
In our first meeting for the study that Mr. Cormier proposed, officials were asked about how many entanglements over the last five years with lobster and crab gear were recorded in Canadian waters. The response was that there was only one in crab gear and that the largest category for causes of death of right whales in the waters—particularly in the two-year period where there were 12 deaths—was undetermined by the necropsies. The whales were too decomposed.
I'll start with Mr. Sullivan first.
You say that you don't see right whales that much during fishing season. As a result, I suspect also you've been dealing with fishermen who have been experimenting with the weak rope—the breakable rope. Can you share with me what the results of that are, from your experience with the fishermen who have been testing that gear?