Fisheries committee  I'm very fortunate. I brought my kids here today: my daughter, Leigha Purdy, and my son, Josiah Purdy, the next generation of our fishery, I hope. I'm a little nervous. I'm sorry. I'll probably just read this. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak here this aft

Fisheries committee  The whitefish in Lake Huron are very strong right now. The lake herring disappeared, and they're slowly coming back. They came back strong enough in northern Lake Huron that they were reintroduced to the quota system. We were put back on a quota for the herring. When they show

Fisheries committee  I heard yesterday, on the way up, that they've also caught two very large walleye, the largest they've caught in a number of years also. Personally, I think as long as the alewife are gone, the salmon fishery are going to stay small fish. What we've noticed with the lake trout

Fisheries committee  I don't think anybody really knows that, Pat, but I think if you look where the Asian carp have been and how they've moved through water systems, once they go through there's nothing left behind them. I think what happens is that once they get into the Great Lakes and they start

Fisheries committee  We're the only commercial plant in the Sarnia area. Depending on the wintertime ice floes and stuff like that, if there's a lot of west wind and southwest wind and the ice is bad in February, we could have five or six boats fishing out of Sarnia. If the wind is really bad out of

Fisheries committee  With the economy and the way it is, we've changed our focus. Back in the 1990s, when you could get an extra 60¢ on the dollar, we shipped almost everything to the States, and that's where we made some money, with the exchange rate. Once the exchange rate changed, we had to change

Fisheries committee  We're part of the Ontario Commercial Fisheries Association, so as part of the whole association we deal with it together.

Fisheries committee  Very much so. Very scared. The further north you go on Lake Huron...the lamprey has a bigger effect the further north you go. We still see the lamprey effect in southern Lake Huron. In the wintertime we can get three or four lamprey per day attached to the fish, where if you go u

Fisheries committee  When the VHS came in, they took away our live industry, because we were not allowed to transport water or fish from one body to another body. It hurt us. It basically took our whole live fishery away. It really hurt the bait industry, because they were catching bait from one lake

Fisheries committee  Exactly; that's what it was.

Fisheries committee  They said the fish can carry it; the water can carry it; it can be on a duck's feather.

Fisheries committee  I'm skeptical on the dam. I've never personally seen it. I've read reports on it; I have talked to people who have worked on it. I guess I'm not sure how effective it is. I hear people who work on it and assure me that it's effective and that no Asian carp can get by, but their l

Fisheries committee  Yes, and I hope it's not too late. I'm very scared.

Fisheries committee  I honestly haven't heard about any of the conditions you're talking about. Ten or twelve years ago I was part of the fishing element with the CMAC, and they were talking back then about the different things they were going to bring in with the freighters, exchanging ballast water

Fisheries committee  I do. I think if we can stop—and I know you guys probably know the number better than I do—however many they say come in every year.... If we could at least get that number way down, we'd have a lot better chance of not having the next zebra mussel or something like that come in