I serve on the Atlantic seal advisory committee, ASAC, which is chaired by the DFO.
What I will say is that, for the better part of two decades, industry has been sending strong signals to the DFO about the precautionary approach and the overall management regime. What is our mandate, as Canada, with respect to pinnipeds, whether on the west coast or on the east coast? We have scientific proof that the grey seal is going to extinct four species, and we're sitting here, not accepting the responsibility to implement measures to rectify that.
This is a shared problem with the Americans. The Americans have been talking to us. I've spoken to numerous people down in Nantucket and through Maine. They are frustrated with the Canadian seals' coming down and eating the American fish. The only level of engagement that we have is a request to find out if we can use seal in bait under—and potential fallout from—the MMPA.
I think we have to take the responsibility now for future generations. We have to definitely tie in with the local observations of the people who are out in the environment, whether it's in the north or on the east coast. They see what's happening. They saw the cod collapse coming long before the DFO saw it. We need to incorporate that first-hand experience into the management model. We need to take the responsibility to rectify the imbalance that's been created in our ecosystem.
This is not unheard of in other jurisdictions or areas. You could look to Australia and what it's done with the kangaroo in the case of desertification and loss of land. The rangelands were going to be destroyed.
It's an education approach to letting the rest of the world know that if you stand for banning the use of this sustainable resource, you're actually against the environment. You are against the world. They are putting people in marginal positions where they're destroying tradition and culture. They're impacting the food security of the local people. They're not respecting the rules around the Convention on Biological Diversity.
There are a number of buttons that could be pressed, levers that could be pulled and dials that could be turned in order to help rectify and restore the balance in the ecosystem. We now have an ecosystem problem. This is not about commercial seal fisheries. This is about restoring balance, saving the planet and saving the northwest Atlantic ecosystem.