Fisheries committee  That's right. I haven't been involved in it. I have had no invitation to become involved in any talks.

Fisheries committee  No, I can't see that happening, because then you would be getting into another part of it, taking the chance of losing what you've got or whatever. I can't see that happening.

Fisheries committee  Well, it's not only me who's worried about this, and I'm sure they will. Once you get into a bigger boat, then your appetite will get larger, there's no doubt about that. That's been proven over the years. But I can't see anybody...because you're not talking about going out and fishing the salmon illegally, or one fish or something like that; you're talking about putting your whole livelihood into jeopardy when you're talking about going out and doing things wrong in the industry we're in.

Fisheries committee  You're talking about total allowable catch, but out of that allocation, I will call it, you have a 3K north allocation of shrimp, which is up in the millions of pounds. I don't exactly know what the number is. But out of that allocation, it's split up between different regions: 3K north has 11% of that total allowable catch, and then it goes on down the line.

Fisheries committee  No. The length of the vessel right now--again, this is a personal point of view--if we're not going to ask for any more quota— If I have an individual quota to catch--right now we're on a 650,000-pound cap with shrimp and I have x number of pounds of crab--and I want to go to an 80-footer or a 100-footer to catch that quota, then they should leave it up to me as a business person to decide.

Fisheries committee  Some of the boats probably are not safe to go out in, and that's probably due to the design of the boat. As Hubert pointed out, in order to get what the fishermen need sometimes, they have to build the boat in an unsafe way in order to satisfy that need. I think this is what's happening in some of the cases we've seen around the island of boats being capsized.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  Yes. You see, what Hubert is saying is fine from Hubert's—

Fisheries committee  And it's fine from my perspective too. If you have someone in a 34' 11" boat who wants to move into a 65-footer, then I think he should be allowed to do that, the same as if he wants to move from a 65-footer to a 100-footer. Leave it to me to make that decision. But because you're going from a 65-footer to a 100-footer, don't come out and say you need another million pounds of fish to take care of that 100-footer.

Fisheries committee  That's what I think, yes. Reasoning...it doesn't add up. What we're saying now is we've got the boats that we've already got. I'm in a 65-footer and I find it tough enough as it is to make ends meet in what I got. If I jump from the 65, first of all it's going to cost me probably $2.5 million to go from where I am into something bigger.

Fisheries committee  I haven't had any correspondence on that, Gerry.

Fisheries committee  No one in any way whatsoever.

Fisheries committee  I talked to a fisherman last night--he was supposed to be here today--and he had talked to fishermen that have already moved from 65-footers to larger boats. They've had to tie them up because they can't afford to keep them. They can't afford the operational part of it. So I don't know if it would make economic sense.

Fisheries committee  Okay. Speaking from a personal point of view, if we move into bigger boats, how do we finance them? Most of the enterprise owners are now at the age of retiring and getting out, hoping to get a good return for the money they've invested. It's going to be very difficult to get young people involved if they cannot get the financial help they need.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, honourable members of the committee, my name is Normand Cull, and I've been owner and operator of an enterprise since 1984. I first started fishing with my dad at an early age of nine years, and I can well remember.... I don't know whether some of you around the table know that we used to buy flour at that time by the 100-pound bag.