Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to also thank our witnesses for being here with us today.
I'm most interested in the relationship between the waters of the Great Lakes and the waters of the St. Lawrence, since I represent Quebec at this table. Indeed, we too have problems with invasive species in the St. Lawrence, and we always wonder who has the power to take concrete action to restore balance to the ecosystem. We know that problems in the Great Lakes inevitably spill into the St. Lawrence.
We also have a problem with striped bass in the river, from Trois-Rivières down toward the estuary. This species eats little fish, and we're losing our smelts, our capelin and all the little fish we love. All we're catching is striped bass, which we don't have the right to fish.
We're all here together thinking about who has the authority to spend how much and why. With regard to Quebec, is Fisheries and Oceans able to keep data on what's in the St. Lawrence up to date? Does the department have the means and tools needed to assess the current lamprey situation? Does it have the tools required to preserve the ecosystem in our shared waters in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence?