Fisheries committee  It certainly sounds like it in unit 1, and we're starting to see a lot of small fish in unit 2 as well. The advice we got this year from science is that we probably have only about eight or 10 years to harvest these redfish, because they will eventually decline back to their normal levels.

Fisheries committee  I think it was in 1999.

Fisheries committee  I started out fairly young as an agent and worked mainly on international fisheries management issues. Then I progressed in my career and became assistant deputy minister responsible for fisheries and ports management.

Fisheries committee  I was assistant deputy minister.

Fisheries committee  We have between four and six. I would say there are only two that are active in Newfoundland and one that is active in Nova Scotia.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  There is bycatch. If I understand correctly, when the minister makes her decision, there will be new management measures for the redfish fishery to minimize bycatch. One of the risks of a higher total allowable catch is that bycatch may increase. There are two types of redfish.

Fisheries committee  As I said, we've come to accept the decision that's been made by Minister Lebouthillier in terms of reducing our historical share. We strongly believe that those aren't the right decisions to make. People invest based on the shares they have. Banks lend money to companies based on the shares they have.

Fisheries committee  The challenge with the fish in unit 1 is that they've stopped growing. They're very small. They're about 25 centimetres, whereas the average size of redfish in the market is 40 centimetres. That really makes it more challenging to continue to service a traditional European market, let's say, or an American market.

Fisheries committee  My understanding is that there are too many redfish and that's what's stunting their growth.

Fisheries committee  It's clear that the redfish were eating a lot of shrimp and, certainly, changes in the ecosystem, as I understand it, have contributed to the decline in shrimp in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Fisheries committee  We have members who focus solely on redfish as their primary business, so they already have the plants set up to be able to process more redfish. One example is Alain d'Entremont's plant in Digby, which is a relatively new plant, state-of-the-art and fully environmentally friendly, and that plant, as an example, is capable of processing fish.

Fisheries committee  We acquired much of our harvesting access in redfish when others were not interested in participating in the redfish fishery because either it was not profitable or it had very little openness, access, in terms of a commercial fishery. Other industry participants took shrimp and crab licences instead of continuing or fishing for redfish.

Fisheries committee  We are very much believers in a willing buyer, willing seller model, whether it be for access by inshore harvesters or indigenous participants. We feel that it is best left to the industry, once the government can state certain objectives for the fishery. We feel that it's best handled by industry-to-industry or industry-to-indigenous discussions and negotiations, where everybody is a winner, as opposed to creating an environment where we're creating winners and losers.

Fisheries committee  Markets are very challenging. We've been trying to develop markets for redfish in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa since about 2020 in anticipation of the reopening of the unit 1 redfish fishery. We face a lot of stiff competition from countries like Norway, Iceland and Russia, which are really selling the larger fish, and I think members know that the fish we have in unit 1 are smaller than what the market is looking for.