Fisheries committee  Certainly. It's all day, all night and in all weather that those kinds of images can be taken. I would say it would be a great opportunity for us to explore further with DFO to see how we could support it. The way we take imagery and the modalities we have—in other words, the area of interest, the resolution and how small the objects are that we can detect—vary, depending on where we are geolocated, where we're looking and the types of modes available at the time we have across that area.

Fisheries committee  I can't speak to that, specifically. They could have asked in other ways to my team. I would have to go back and double-check. I'm not aware of that specifically, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been investigated.

Fisheries committee  Radar reflects very well off metal, but not so well off a whale. We do some whale detection using UAV technology for VTOL, but it's a very different type of technology from satellite. Radar satellites are very good at detecting objects on the water, not under the water.

Fisheries committee  I have only the number from the UN that talks about 20% of the 90 million tonnes captured per year. It's 20% of the over 90 million tonnes of fish caught globally each year. That is what is presumed to be captured illegally. That's a statistic from the United Nations.

Fisheries committee  Radar satellite imagery is a well-known technology that we've been using for over 15 years. It's an active sensor technology from space. We transmit our radar down and detect the radar that is reflected up. Through this, we are able to see large ships on the ocean. We combine it, through our analytics platform, with other types of data, such as AIS data, which is tracking information that ships emit.

Fisheries committee  We worked with them a few years ago to develop the analytics and pull in the right set of data to do what is needed. It turned operational in 2021.

Fisheries committee  I would probably leave it up to DFO to share that number with you.

Fisheries committee  We certainly turn over the data and provide the analytics and reports. They are the ones who confirm or validate the information and data and take action beyond that.

Fisheries committee  Good morning. I'm the vice-president of geointelligence at MDA, and I'm excited to be here with you today to talk about the health and preservation of our world's ocean ecosystems. Headquartered in Canada and publicly traded on the TSX, MDA is a global leader in the development of space technology and the country's leading space company.