Mr. Speaker, with respect to the preamble of the hon. member's question, in my view an inquiry would serve very little in terms of advancing the interests of fishermen on either coast. It would be costly, it would take a lot of time, and it would mean that resources would be devoted to an inquiry and legal costs instead of to science in the fisheries itself.
I should point out that there have already been two studies done and I believe the auditor general will comment as well. The reasons given are overfishing, overestimating stock size, fishing abuses such as high grading and discards, changes in the marine ecosystem and finally, failures of the then political—