Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my earlier response to the hon. member's question, this study was undertaken and the results were reported in 1997, some 18 months ago.
We did look into the issue of vessel size. It is a complex problem. On the one hand there are safety considerations with respect to larger vessels being safer vessels, which is a brief way of putting it, but at the same time larger vessels mean that fishermen will stay out longer in the face of adverse weather and they will go farther. So the safety issue tends to equalize.
On the other hand we have the major problem of increasing capacity in the fleet, which this government is spending some $250 million in the Atlantic region to reduce. It is a complex issue.
Again, I appreciate the hon. member's question, but we have done the study which he has requested.