Mr. Speaker, a key value that we put forward was the necessity to make evidence-based decisions. The problem we have had is that the evidence has not been available. The capability to collect that evidence was seriously compromised over the past 10 years.
We want to rebuild that but at the same time we want to employ the precautionary principles to move in where things might not necessarily be clear, where we know something is going on and we have to take immediate remedial action.
Like my hon. friend, I spent some time on the north coast out in the fishing boats. One of the things that concerns me about the activities on the west coast is the separation of the people who own boats and the people who own the fishing quotas. They have been struggling with this on the east cost as well but seem to have a much different and much healthier industry because of their approach on the east coast.
The legislation also introduces an opportunity to talk about this issue on the west coast.