Fisheries committee  I understand that concern, and I think that is certainly shared by others as well. There are obviously different perspectives on that, as you appreciate, and I think in part, as I've noted, the constraints governing the allocation of transfers would help address the point you've just raised.

Fisheries committee  There is.

Fisheries committee  No. As I indicated in my opening remarks, one of the fears was that this integrated proposal would result in fishermen not being able to acquire bycatch and that they would not be able to fish as a consequence. The information that we have to date indicates that bycatch was available and that all those who wanted to fish could have fished.

Fisheries committee  As Mr. Stoffer indicated and as I responded, the point here is that the commercial industry itself recognizes that as a concern. It is a strongly held view in some camps more so than in others; nevertheless, it is a strongly held view. To try to address that in part, the constraints around the trading of allocation put limits on how much can be exchanged between different groups.

Fisheries committee  I have a couple of responses to that. With respect to the penalty, at this point we're putting a lot of the emphasis on the fact that it's a new program. It's complicated. There's a transition period, and the fishermen have to adjust to it. The consequence of not living within the rules would be that we would not authorize the fishermen to go out and fish.

Fisheries committee  I agree. We have to have consequences for bad behaviour. Right now the consequence is that we can charge individuals who don't abide by the rules. The point you make is that fishermen need to have a consequence. To make sure that they're compliant, they need to know that the consequence is worse than their behaviour.

Fisheries committee  I think that's a good point.

Fisheries committee  It will be the next subject.

Fisheries committee  Yes, they are.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  I would like to separate two things. In British Columbia, we have habitat biologists and technicians, and we have fishery officers. They're two different groups. With respect to the fishery officers in B.C., there will be no reduction in their numbers. The minister announced at the beginning of the summer that the reductions that had been planned would not take place, and that there would actually be an augmentation.

Fisheries committee  That gets into the issue of auditing, and we work with fishery officers. First, we're monitoring the fish on the vessels, and we're also monitoring the fish when they come into the dock and into the plants. So obviously we're looking for continuity. We're looking for the same amount here being the same amount there and the same amount there.

Fisheries committee  I could make a comment on that. First, on the issue of catch monitoring and compliance, it's our view that catch monitoring, documentation, and accounting have significantly improved relative to the previous arrangements. The reason is clear: you have either an observer or a camera on board.

Fisheries committee  That gets into issues of auditing and so forth. We do have—

Fisheries committee  The industry itself proposed a mechanism for the buying and selling and trading of groundfish, to ensure that everybody could acquire their bycatch. They modelled that on what was done earlier in the trawl fishery, which they had established. They expanded it considerably, because the new arrangements for the trawl fishery are much more complex than the previous ones.