Thank you all for being here today. This is all very interesting. I wish we had more time, as usual.
I'd like to turn to Dr. Derocher.
I'm so glad you brought up the polar continental shelf funding. I was fortunate enough to take advantage of that funding way back in 1983. I spent the summer doing research in Old Crow and Herschel Island using polar shelf funding.
I think it was in 2018 when I heard that this funding had not gone up at all for 20 years. It was similar to the situation we just dealt with regarding graduate student scholarships. I think it was rectified somewhat shortly after that.
I'm wondering if you could talk about polar shelf funding, where it stands now and where it should be. As you said, this is the glue that holds research together. It's the logistics support. The main problem for researchers in the Arctic is just getting around.
Could you spend a minute or two talking about the polar shelf, how important it is and where the funding stands at the moment?