Fisheries committee  If buyers are responsible for promotion… I'll go back to English, if you don't mind.

Fisheries committee  If it's done by the buyers, the promotion, there's still a lack of trust among the fishermen themselves around what the buyers are getting for their product, the shipping cost. Are they really telling us the truth? This agency would be working on behalf of every licence holder in district 34, and district 33 as well.

Fisheries committee  Promotion, I think, is important. We did a lot of promotion on the back of half-ton trucks last fall, and that was a huge promotion.

Fisheries committee  We could tell you, but....

Fisheries committee  It's not to remove the processors whatsoever. We want to work with the processors and the buyers. They're part of the industry, and they're part of what we need. What we know is that we have to try to promote the product. The product is good, and there's really nobody out there who is promoting the product.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  That had a huge effect in the Halifax area. A lot of people were buying a product that they were scared to buy before, because it's always been at an inflated price, and people assumed that it was a luxury product. And now it was cheap, so they bought it and they loved it and they went back.

Fisheries committee  That's been escalating since 1996, when we started with community-based management in terms of groundfish. And the downloading costs have escalated. I'm involved in the groundfishery as well, with fish gill nets in the summertime. You have to bring somebody with you at sea as an observer.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  Yes, it would be according to market demand.

Fisheries committee  Like Roger, I'm a free enterprise guy. If the fishermen want to get a holding facility, they should be entitled to get one. The problem is that some fishermen at sea and some holding facilities are very good at taking care of their product, and some aren't. I think Mr. Morrow mentioned a two-price system.

Fisheries committee  Senator Comeau asked what could they do to help the industry in a sense. We know quite well that Ottawa cannot submit a cheque for $5,000 to every fisherman. It goes against the free trade issue and everything else. He came up with a few points. What about licence fees? LFA 34 paid $1,890 for a licence to fish lobster in LFA 34.

Fisheries committee  Oh, yes. I'm getting there. Cut the licence fees in half. I said that was great, and that every licence holder would probably save some $900 to put in their pockets, and that's fine, but we have the same old problem. There is no representation. There is still nothing out there to try to promote the product.

Fisheries committee  That is correct.

Fisheries committee  Thank you. I really appreciate the fact that you have come down here to listen to our views and our concerns. It's a shame--I mean today, April 1. I'd call it the second day of the opening of the season in LFA 34, because every fisherman can set 25 extra traps today, and they're all out there.