Fisheries committee  Thank you for this opportunity to speak today. My name is James Lawson. I'm president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union-Unifor, a representative of the Prawn Industry Caucus and a prawn fisherman. DFO's mandate includes maintaining the sustainability of fisherie

Fisheries committee  No prior warnings for me: It came as quite a shock.

Fisheries committee  No, not that I'm aware of. There's only one reason I can think of for this coming up. If a tub is illegal, whether it's rec, FSC or commercial, it's really easy to regulate. However, if that's the concern and it's happening now, it's pretty easy to figure out who's going to fill

Fisheries committee  It will be the illegal sales.

Fisheries committee  It would be impossible. I'm sure I could probably arrange with the fish company to come to take the export prawns, but without tubbing I have no way to access a local market. I'm pigeon-holed into exporting only. I was extremely lucky that I had lots of local people in Campbell R

Fisheries committee  I'm a smaller freezer vessel, but I can hold my product for probably 10 days for about 5,500 lbs., and that is not a big vessel. There are definitely bigger boats out there with way longer holding times, where someone could come along at any time and inspect that product.

Fisheries committee  No. We all go through the same process of grading and adhering to the conditions of the licence. They are able to stay on the grounds longer, but the process for making sure we have legal prawns is the same in the larger boats.

Fisheries committee  To see if a prawn is legal, we do a millimetre measurement, either off the telson, which is part of the tail, or on the spike coming off it's face. I forget what it's called. I have no interest in keeping small prawns. Why take prawns that are going to be more valuable later? I

Fisheries committee  They get dumped out of the trap onto the grading table and get graded individually by hand. On my grading table, which is seven feet away from me, I have marks etched into the aluminum so we can measure them, piece by piece if we have to.

Fisheries committee  Straight overboard, back into its habitat....

Fisheries committee  From what I hear, but I've never followed one down.

Fisheries committee  I have 2,000 pounds' worth of tubs sitting in my hold right now, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to use them, so a timely answer would have been a real great money saver for me.

Fisheries committee  Last year there might have been one hiccup just with COVID protocols about boarding vessels, but otherwise they have that right anytime.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I have no problem with anybody coming aboard and wanting to inspect my catch for quality control and compliance, but I don't want to give up tubbing, because it provides for the highest quality product. If I have to sell an inferior product to locals, what's the point? You

Fisheries committee  I think there are about 240 licences. I'm not sure how many operators there are, because I don't know how many do stack. Like you said, it's either 300 traps for a single licence, or 500 traps for a double licence. This fishery is very important to fisheries businesses. As a yo