Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. I'd like to thank you for having me.
I've been involved in testing whalesafe gear throughout the summer in the most perfect conditions, which is not what we will be seeing this fall. I can honestly say that I've been able to break everything they have told me to test at well under the 1,700-pound breaking strength, with no consistency. Some gear may break. We have numbers that we will give out in our statement when we write it, but one may have broken at 500 psi and the next one may have broken at 1,100 psi, so the same piece of equipment didn't break at the same strength, which was concerning.
The big concern to me and my crew was safety. When gear broke as it came out of the water and my crew was standing at the rail, some of the plastic would break and shatter. We didn't find it safe. Also, the real concern is the amount of ghost gear. It will be significant if we don't get this right with all the trapped lobsters in the traps that can't escape for quite some time.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.