Actually, I wasn’t referring to pelagic fishers in that passage. I was talking about fishers who were not initially included in the department’s criteria. They live in the Rimouski area and fish mainly for snow crab. Following individual discussions with DFO, they came up with the idea of creating a new group to obtain exploratory lobster fishing licences.
What I was trying to say was that people in the field were listening, regardless of their status. People could participate in the process even if they were part of an association, whether recognized or not, or even if they were eligible fishers or not. We noticed this too. We made suggestions to DFO that we believed would improve the process, and they were accepted. People in the field were listening. I am thinking in particular of those in the Gaspé area office, who were in listening mode, regardless of whether they were a recognized association or not, or a targeted fisher or not. They tried to get as much information as possible to do things better.