Let me give you some idea of how things stand. There are 325 fishers in the Magdalen Islands area. That means a lot of traffic. Because there are so many fishers, the traps are practically sitting on top of each other. Between two traps on the same line, the depth can vary by about 20 feet.
Furthermore, the sea bottom in these waters is very rocky, which makes it hard to fish. If the planned requirements are maintained and we have to use the low-breaking-strength rope that's currently being tested, our traps will stay in the water. Whales won't get entangled, but our traps will stay in the water. That will be far from acceptable from an environmental standpoint.
We have 273 traps each worth $100 to $150, so it wouldn't be a great solution from an economic standpoint either.
I myself took part in a test involving fishing gear using rope designed to break when exposed to more than 1,700 pounds of tension. Unfortunately, I don't have a very high opinion of the result. The rope broke on its own, due to the low breaking strength. It wasn't a whale that broke it, it was the weight of my boat and the sea bottom.
We would be creating an ecological problem that makes no sense. The traps left on the sea bottom will break down after a year, but until then, they'll keep catching lobster on their own. That won't be very cost-effective for Magdalen Islands fishers. It's not every day that we replace a dozen traps.
That's why we are requesting that the deadline be postponed to 2025 to give us more time. It's not because we're against the principle. Quite the contrary.
I was listening to Mr. Thériault's comments earlier about ropeless buoys. I would love for him to come see what's going on in the Magdalen Islands sector. I don't know if you know this, but speaking for myself, even if I see another fisher's buoys next to mine, our traps end up on top of each other from time to time. If we don't see where our neighbour is, we're bound to do each other harm.
It's not just a matter of one trap and one buoy. For us, it's seven traps and two buoys.