Too often we find ourselves, in the industry, in a position where we're having new things added to the fishery and we haven't actually fully addressed something that might have been implemented five, 10 or 15 years ago.
I'm always very cautious about how we introduce technology. There are shortcomings with technology in some of the coastal areas that we would represent with the federation in terms of being able to have access to some kind of connectivity. A lot of areas in fisheries are simply out of range. Adding something new to them is only going to complicate things for the harvester. It's going to add another layer of complexity for that harvester to comply and be in compliance, so I'm often cautious about this.
The introduction of e-logs is the way we're going, but there are things that need to be addressed. One of them is privacy. I have asked on numerous occasions how the information will be used by the third party. To date, I have yet to receive a satisfactory answer.
Even before we get into the issues of technology and how it would work on board a vessel, we have to know what that third party can do with our harvesters' information. That's a huge issue for the people we represent.
As far as technology is concerned, a lot of the wheelhouses I've been in look nothing short of amazing in terms of the technology they're using, but it has to be introduced in a way that's in collaboration with the industry to make sure that it's doable and workable. We also have to take into account that we're going to have harvesters who cannot use it, and that's something we don't spend a lot of time on either.