Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
The minister said something about fishing in marine protected areas. She seems to have said that it's probably allowed, but it's prohibited in the American Bank. So there is some confusion there, which I just wanted to bring to the committee's attention.
I would like to come back to the capelin fishery in the St. Lawrence. It is an intangible heritage that we care very much about. I understand the major concerns of the departments about all kinds of things, but we also have to be concerned about the expertise required in the capelin fishery. We have documents in front of us right now that we have shared with the minister and the officials. It is a set of studies conducted by scientists that confirm that there is no link between the St. Lawrence capelin population and the capelin population of Newfoundland and Labrador, and that a small capelin can travel 200 kilometres, but not 2,000.
So I want to stress that. I would like the minister to tell me that officials from her department will be looking into this matter very soon so that weir capelin fishing in the St. Lawrence River will be allowed in Charlevoix as early as April 1.