Fisheries committee  Good morning. It will be hard to stick to the four minutes, but I'll be as brief as possible. It's unfortunate you didn't choose to go directly to a fishing community. The people of Caraquet, Lamèque and Shippagan would have been happy to share their experiences and would have sh

Fisheries committee  My colleague Robert Haché has illustrated the situation. I would add that, in 2005, a report by Gardner Pinfold Consulting on the crab and shrimp fisheries, commissioned by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, very clearly informed the department at that time that the viabilit

Fisheries committee  I'll close by saying that the fishermen's observations were all excellent this year, the harvest, the crab quality. On this scientific opinion matter, I had a discussion with scientists in Moncton during the season, and I asked them whether they had gone to the docks and whether

Fisheries committee  Mrs. O'Neill, I will add to that. We need to look at short-term solutions. We also need to look at longer-term solutions. I mentioned previously that some of our fishermen...it is mostly affecting the younger ones, the ones who don't have all kinds of money. They are tied up with

Fisheries committee  Yes. As was mentioned before in this committee in Moncton, the survey started in 1988. They had a trial survey, the annual science survey. Over the years we've refined the tool to assess the biomass. At the beginning of this survey, in 1988, there were about 150 stations through

Fisheries committee  I would say that in the 1980s and 1990s we were covering all the fishing grounds that were fished. We were not going into areas that were not fished. We were covering all the biomass that was harvested by fishermen, so it was not wrong. We were covering the fishing grounds. And a

Fisheries committee  I'd like to comment on the credibility or accuracy of the scientific data collected each year. I can tell you that the annual stock measurement is very accurate. Mr. Paradis alluded to the unique situation in the southern part of the gulf. Stock levels are sufficient to allow tra

Fisheries committee  First, regarding the difference from the past, when we recalculated based on the increased surface area from 25,000 square kilometres to 35,000, it meant that our estimate was biased on the low side because the area we covered was smaller and we then expanded. It also means that

Fisheries committee  Yes, and your point is taken. We've seen these two cycles: a high peak and a lower peak. Maybe there's a potential that we'll be having a smaller peak in the future. Other fisheries have shown similar declining cyclical peaks. This is why we adopted the precautionary approach, by

Fisheries committee  That would be in zone 12, the southern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Fisheries committee  I would just add that there is also residual biomass when the survey is conducted after the fishery. We assess the crab that is not being caught in the fishery, as David Bevan just mentioned. That crab is not lost, by the way. Managing a resource is about sex and kids. You need s

Fisheries committee  The science that we do for snow crab at the moment--

Fisheries committee  It would probably be to maintain the research we do on the crab movement and the relationship between the males and females--vis-à-vis how many females and males we need. That work is going on, but it's not something that can be achieved within a few years. We'd need probably fiv

Fisheries committee  We would probably require some additional resources, as usual, and probably more communication with fishermen, because they become our samplers. We have to rely on fishermen to return these crabs with the information on position and all the data that goes with it. That's what wou

Fisheries committee  It has been done in the past on a small scale, but we would like to expand it. This is my wish, to expand it more across the southern gulf to not only explain movement but also to have a better estimate of the natural mortality of crab. That can also help us to measure that compo