Yes, I'd say it's correct to say there isn't as much enforcement, but the measures are not exactly the same. For example, in the U.S. they use what they call the sinking groundline rule in pot fisheries, so you have a number of pots on the bottom in a trawl, like charms on a bracelet, and there's groundline that connects all of those pots. They required all of their fishermen to use rope that would sink and sit on the bottom. Many U.S. colleagues are of the opinion we should also use that in Canada.
We use different measures in Canada that are tailored towards the Canadian fisheries, and I would say I think the one thing that's important is there has been some progress made on rope-on-demand technology and other modifications, but this is something that really needs an infusion of money to allow the fishermen to get the gear in their hands and practise with it. We work locally with some rock crab fishermen who get shut down when right whales appear around the Bay of Fundy. They are now in a position where they can actually switch over to some rope-on-demand gear that we loan them and keep fishing when the right whales show up.
Right whales do aggregate in feeding areas, but they also have to migrate through other waters to get there. We have the feeding areas fairly well identified in the gulf. Some of these whale sightings, as Mr. Sproul referred to, are right whales that are seen migrating. We do need a little bit better science and a little bit better surveillance to see if those whales are persisting in that area. If there is a short-term closure, that's one thing, but if that closure goes from 15 days to a seasonal closure, it really wipes out a community's effort to be able to harvest, especially lobster.
I think more surveillance in these areas, especially this time of the year, when the animals are just migrating through and moving into the feeding areas, would be really useful in terms of helping fishermen live with the right whale challenge, especially in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.