Fisheries committee  There is a meeting that everybody goes to. There are probably 30 people around the table. There's no way you can say that's consultation. We all have three minutes—less time than here—so if we're going to get ideas out and are going to co-manage our watersheds, we have to have more time at the table to talk about them together.

Fisheries committee  I don't know what the question was.

Fisheries committee  They eat. Like I said, they're not bad fish; they're hungry fish. If there's not as many of them there that need to be fed, then we're not going to lose as many salmon smolt, gaspereau, smelt and so on. In the Restigouche, I believe the issue is going to come to the fact that after the fish spawn, they leave and go back to their native river and are finding their way to the Restigouche in the summer.

Fisheries committee  Yes, and they're going to get lower.

Fisheries committee  Develop that upper reference point. Look to manage the watershed in equilibrium. Create environmental things that are going to help the river, like cold water, as Chief George suggested. Work with our provincial people and hopefully increase our buffer zones. There's no easy answer.

Fisheries committee  I may be amiss in my information, but to my knowledge none of the recommendations have gone anywhere. As far as economic benefits are concerned, Bill already spoke to the fact there are hundreds and hundreds of jobs. The fishery is very important. It is our culture. It is our heritage.

Fisheries committee  Yes, we've had some really warm summers. You heard earlier that we have consultations, and we went to those consultations this year. Although last year was a terrible year, to my surprise I found out that 1954 was even worse. Are things warming up, and do we have global warming?

Fisheries committee  That's my name.

Fisheries committee  I have no idea if they can react fast enough, Pat. I would hope they can. That's their job: to manage the fishery. So, yes, get out there and set that upper reference point and manage the fishery. In terms of what it should be, I'm not the biologist. I want everything in equilibrium from the watershed point of view, including striped bass, because anyone who does know me knows that I bought a very expensive new striped bass boat.

Fisheries committee  Thank you. I too agree with everything that's already been said, so I'm going to carry on from there. I carry a bit of a different torch, because I'm president of the Miramichi Watershed Management Committee, and we're not a conservation group. We are a group of stakeholders looking to utilize the resources and create as much economics from the Miramichi River as possible.

Fisheries committee  It's both.

Fisheries committee  I don't see any conflict simply because of the law. The law says the conservation comes first, and the harvest is based on abundance. If there's an abundance, the first allocation of the abundance goes to our first nations people. They have an allocation for food and ceremonial purposes.

Fisheries committee  I don't think we should be looking at a cull where any animal is senselessly slaughtered and left for no purpose. With the seal population, I wouldn't want to be anything, including myself, swimming by if the animal was hungry and expect not to get a swat taken at me. Obviously, when you have hundreds and thousands of things out there, they have to eat something.

Fisheries committee  For non-residents on the Miramichi, it doesn't appear to be having an impact. However, the first year that we went catch-and-release, there was a real impact on residents deciding that they didn't want to fish that year. I just returned from a wildlife trust fund meeting, where we get revenue based on licence sales.

Fisheries committee  As far as my business goes, no, not at all. Most people who come to the Miramichi are thrilled to have a place in the world where they might have an opportunity to catch a fish and put it back. Is it affecting my business, entertaining fishermen from around the world? Absolutely not.