Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, to you and to the committee for the opportunity to be here this morning. Thank you to MP McDonald for suggesting this as a topic for your committee. It's a very important topic for our province as we move forward. I'll do my best not to go over the points t

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. McDonald. First of all, I apologize for speaking fast, but John tells me he understood it.

Fisheries committee  It's hard when you have 10 minutes and you really have a lot to say. You cram it all in there.

Fisheries committee  The fishery that we see in our future looks nothing like the fishery we left in 1992. We left a fishery in 1992 where we were doing primarily cod blocks and second-fiddle products, and we need to become a leader in quality. Quality starts at the side of the vessel. To go back t

Fisheries committee  Can I just add to that?

Fisheries committee  This is one thing that I missed in my earlier remarks, but it ties into what Mr. Efford just said. One thing for certain that we need to look for in the transitioning years—and beyond—is a commitment from DFO to a full stock assessment every year. There has been some reinvestment

Fisheries committee  I understand the question about what they are eating, but it's really a moot or irrelevant point because, at the end of the day, they are eating seafood. Whether that's cod or whether that's a forage fish, we all know what they are not eating. I think at one point someone said th

Fisheries committee  I believe the staff and resources are there now; the staffing increase at the local DFO is in the last three to four months. But we need a commitment to science, a commitment to a full stock assessment every year, at least until we get to a point that we know where we're to, beca

Fisheries committee  I think it all comes back to science, to knowing what's there and what effect one has on the other. Mr. Efford just showed me a picture of what was dinner for a codfish. It was probably 10 or 12 female snow crab. We need to make sure the ecosystem is balanced. I guess that woul

Fisheries committee  That is a program we introduced in this year's budget. It is a small program of $2 million. The focus in that program was to look at funding projects or helping harvesters or processors who are interested in advancing equipment. For example, in that program, we partnered with som

Fisheries committee  Yes, it is a contribution towards capital cost. One thing I can assure you—and Mr. Efford will appreciate this—is that there is no funding for gillnets.

Fisheries committee  We can certainly get you the full....

Fisheries committee  I think it comes back to one of Senator Wells's points about a management system where we bring the province, the federal government, and all stakeholders together and make sure that when we set out the parameters of this new fishery—because remember, it is not the fishery of 199

Fisheries committee  In June of 2015, the provincial House passed unanimously our support for the first 115,000 tonnes being harvested by the inshore fishers. We continue to support the first 115,000 tonnes for the inshore. The inshore will provide the most direct benefits to the province. Whether it

Fisheries committee  —Carbonear—Trinity—Bay de Verde.