Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, too, to our guests for being here today and sharing this interesting information with us.
I'd like to start with some questions for the coast guard.
I was very interested to see the map that you provided us of the Northwest Passage. First, could you tell me whether you see a significant expansion in commercial shipping in the Northwest Passage in the near to medium term? Can you give us some thoughts on how many ships per year in each category you think there would be over, say, the next five to ten years?
Secondly, as a pleasure boater myself I look at this and see that it's a circuitous route and that there are lots of islands. I wonder about the charting and navigational aids in the Northwest Passage. Maybe you could tell us a bit about how much of it is charted, what kinds of navigational aids there are, if any, and what you foresee as necessary in the next ten years to support the presumably increased number of transits that you're going to tell us about.