Fisheries committee  Mr. Sullivan mentioned it, and I mentioned it as well in response to a question from Mr. Cormier. Several approaches could be combined in order to find a solution. However, we must be careful and avoid creating a problem where none currently exists. To get us out of this situation, we need people in our plants, in the industry, who work for the rest of the year.

Fisheries committee  Ideally, the emergency wage subsidy should be available to all our members. If the family clause could be eliminated, that would solve the problem for many of our members and for many working in the Maritimes and Atlantic sector in general. The majority of fishing businesses have family members working on board the boats.

Fisheries committee  Yes, that's the case. Our work brings us into the same waters; we have the same challenges.

Fisheries committee  That's a good point. It's probably a longer-term solution. For several years now, our industry has been asking to address the grey seal issue, among others. Certainly, there are many opportunities to exploit this resource so that it can be a very important benefit to our industry.

Fisheries committee  As far as the province is concerned, the injection of funds was done through the community business development corporations (CBDCs). Right now, that's where we're redirecting some of our fishermen to access some funds.

Fisheries committee  No, they aren't specific programs; they're general programs for all the citizens in the province.

Fisheries committee  In this entire story, the new entrants are clearly the ones who have the most to lose. They came into our industry with the largest debts in the history of the fishery, compared to the fishermen who are already exploiting the resource. In our case, new entrants represent about 5% of our fleet.

Fisheries committee  It could be a combination of the two. The idea of giving access to regular EI if the person qualifies for the CERB might be a good idea for this year. I have a feeling that there are a few different ideas like that that could easily fix the situation. The sooner we receive news about this, the sooner we can address a lot of the uncertainties that we are experiencing in our coastal communities right now.

Fisheries committee  It was certainly a difficult decision. In hindsight, it's always easy to say that it was a good decision or a bad decision, but at the time, just two months ago, we didn't know how the situation with the pandemic was going to evolve. So far, we have been lucky. Only one processing plant on the east coast has had cases of COVID-19.

Fisheries committee  Not specifically this year, but I would echo what Christina just mentioned, that new fund that was announced today. I think there's potential there. Hopefully, there's not going to be too much bureaucracy involved in getting these funds rolling.

Fisheries committee  Yes, just briefly, I'm going to echo what the others have just mentioned. It's a combination of market prices and volume limitations at the wharf. In the case of lobster, for instance, it's a double whammy. When you look at it overall, I think you can probably estimate it at between a 40% and a 60% reduction in revenues for this year up to now for most of our members.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I would agree with my colleagues. I think a domestic market initiative would help, also depending on where you are in Canada, let's say in the Maritimes, the biggest city is Montreal, and it's several hours away. It's food for thought. I think it can only help in the medium- and long-term to try to increase the interest of Canadians in consuming more seafood in general.

Fisheries committee  Good afternoon. I will speak in French for a few minutes. The Maritime Fishermen's Union (MFU) represents over 1,300 independent inshore owner-operator fishermen in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Since its creation in 1977, the MFU's mission has been to represent, promote and defend the interests of inshore fishermen and their communities in the Maritimes.

Finance committee  I was about to say exactly the same thing as Leonard. I think a few weeks ago would have been nice because many fishermen have had to make some very difficult choices already, like hiring some deckhands or not. On the health and safety side, there's also the question of whether to go fishing or not.

Finance committee  Very briefly, I'll echo exactly what Geoff Irvine just mentioned. Many small-town communities and rural communities in Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Newfoundland depend on the lobster fishery now. This is basically the most important fishery now, with the cod sector having gone down over 20 years ago, as well as other species.