Madam Chairman, I want to thank the member for his comments. On the question of sockeye, I understand the frustration that we could have had more harvest, however that is why the review conference is going on. Does he not recognize the fact that we did increase the harvest in mid-season by over one million? I believe it was 1.6 million in that case.
Will he recognize that there is not necessarily a direct inverse relationship between the number of escapements and recruitment, that there are other factors that come into play like ocean conditions? Will he not recognize that nobody can understand why the salmon have returned in much better shape this year and why there was less mortality, and that there are conditions in the open ocean that we do not understand?
Will he not recognize that in the last year, since I have been minister, I have taken the recommendations of FRCC very seriously by using a flexible management approach on the seals, ensuring that we harvest to a level that would stop the growth and establish a plan for the next three years that would begin a reduction in the herd? Will he recognize also that we started the process for exclusion zones to see how that could work, where it would work, and where the cost effectiveness would be?