Fisheries committee  I can make a few comments on that. I think we have an example on the west coast, where they have not set up the same protections as we've had on the east coast to protect the owner-operator concept and principles. Today, their fishery is mostly owned by corporate entities and owners of the resource or licences and quotas that don't operate the vessels.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. The responsibility needs to be shared with the provinces, but as I mentioned earlier, there needs to be a mandate because if there's no mandate, we'll get the same response in a year or in 10 years from now with the next generation of bureaucrats. This is a clear and present danger now.

Fisheries committee  At the end of the day, if we want to have small coastal communities that are vibrant and survive into the future, we need to have these fishing industries thriving in these areas and the benefits of the resource going back into these areas to the benefit of the coastal provinces that need these fisheries.

Fisheries committee  Clearly, the departmental officials who gave the presentations before us are not equipped to look at the value and the socio‑economic importance of our fisheries to our east coast and west coast regions. They are not equipped to work with the provinces and deal with the foreign interests that are buying up our processing capacity in our small coastal regions.

Fisheries committee  Oh, absolutely, I think the federal government has a huge role to play, especially where.... I mean, these international corporate interests are within federal jurisdiction when it comes to protecting our national interests in the fisheries or agriculture, or whatever industry that we want to delve in.

Fisheries committee  Well, for starters, I can't think of any other country that would enable some corporate entities owned by other countries to come into their fisheries and own processing plants and quotas. I think there should be special consideration done here to these types of international interests.

Fisheries committee  Yes, and I mean.... We have to say that in New Brunswick it's not much of an issue at this point because they've been mostly doing their progression in Quebec and Newfoundland, but they have been extremely aggressive in the past 10 years, acquiring over the years many quota shares and plants.

Fisheries committee  I can answer briefly, and then I can turn it over to Ms. Canet. The nature of the agreement is a little strange. No one is able to explain to us why the licences are to be transferred to a secondary entity owned by the first nations. We would like to have a clear and simple explanation.

Fisheries committee  I'm not aware of any consultations with industry representatives. We heard from the department and the minister's office that it was in Minister Jordan's hands and that they were currently exploring the question.

Fisheries committee  Again, I'll give you a few more examples, but I want to reiterate that I really don't have many solutions to the issues that are currently being raised today and have been in the last few weeks by this committee. I think this is a first step, and there needs to be a thorough study done by a group of experts to come back with some more details and potential solutions.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon. Thank you on behalf of the Maritime Fishermen's Union for giving us the opportunity to speak today. Our organization represents over 1,300 independent inshore owner-operator fishermen in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We are grateful that all parties supported changes to the Fisheries Act, protecting owner-operators and fleet separation in legislation with the purpose of keeping Atlantic Canada's public resources in the hands of fishers in their communities, and protecting the inshore fisheries from corporate control and influence.

Fisheries committee  Can you hear me? Can the translators hear me speak?

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and the committee, on behalf of the Maritime Fishermen's Union for giving us the opportunity to speak today. Our organization represents over 1,300 independent inshore owner-operator fishermen in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We are grateful that all parties supported changes in the Fisheries Act that protected owner-operators and fleet separation in legislation, with the purpose of keeping Atlantic Canada's public resources in the hands of fishers in their communities and protecting the inshore fisheries from corporate control and influence.

Fisheries committee  Mr. Chair, a suggestion would be to pass it on to the next speaker.

Fisheries committee  There have been significant advances. I think that the Ken Coates report that I mentioned in my presentation accounts for that. We've gone from almost zero commercial fishery revenues for most of the indigenous groups on the east coast to many of these groups today thriving because of the fishery.