I now call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number 40 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.
This meeting is taking place in a hybrid format pursuant to the House order of June 23, 2022.
Before we proceed, I would like to make a few comments for the benefit of witnesses and members alike.
Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mike, and please mute yourself when you are not speaking.
For interpretation for those on Zoom, you have the choice of at the bottom of your screen of “floor”, “English” or “French”. For those in the room, you can use the earpiece and select the desired channel.
Please address all comments through the chair.
Finally, this is a reminder that screenshots or taking photos of your screen is not permitted.
The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on September 20, 2022, the committee is commencing its study of the closure of the mackerel fishery in Atlantic Canada and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
I would also like to advise all members that all of the sound checks have been done for all of the witnesses. They have been working fine.
I would now like to welcome our first panel of witnesses.
We have Sebastián Pardo, sustainable fisheries coordinator with the Ecology Action Centre. We are also joined by Katie Schleit, senior fisheries advisor with Oceans North. We also have Dominique Robert, professor and Canada research chair in fisheries ecology, Institut des sciences de la mer, Université du Québec à Rimouski, who is appearing as an individual,
We'll now go to opening remarks for five minutes or less.
Mr. Pardo, we'll go to you first.