Thank you, Minister.
No one would advise reckless action on this, but this issue is not something new to the table. It has been brought forward in reports going back to 1999 and 2002. Most recently, there was the Atlantic Mackerel Advisory Committee that took place in Halifax just this past March, at which we heard from DFO scientists as well as harvesters.
Overwhelmingly, the data is very clear. In fact, they found that the stomach content of grey seals in the summer, for example, was over 80% cod and herring. In the winter, we're getting statistics showing that as much as 47% of the stomach contents are mackerel. These are staggering statistics. The population at the time of the cod fishery collapse was 2.7 million pinnipeds in the water on the east coast; now that's approaching eight million to nine million pinnipeds that we know of on the east coast.
Do you not think that's having a huge damaging effect on fish stocks on both coasts? It needs to be addressed with immediacy and urgency.