Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for his question and the quote from Mr. Efford who has certainly brought this matter to the attention of Canadians.
Yes, the population of harp seals is high and has increased and the grey seals have increased even faster.
I would like to quote the statement from the scientific council of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization: “It is possible that the marine mammal consumption of juvenile cod is impacting their recovery”. In other words, seal predation is impacting recovery.
Essentially the same point was made by the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council of Canada in its November report: “The council believes that their consumption of juvenile cod and other species is a threat to the rebuilding of groundfish stocks”—