Fisheries committee  I will begin, and let Gabrielle continue with her own comments. I just want to mention that bringing young people into the fishery to catch and process fish is a concern that I did not mention, but which is very real. Indeed, the Local Development Centre has had measures in place for many years now to support young people coming into the industry.

Fisheries committee  I am going to begin, and Gabrielle can add her comments. First of all, our dependency on various means of transportation is such that, for some years now, the community's priority has been to establish a marine link with the mainland that is available year-long. Of course, most people are benefiting from that as a result of a pilot project that was carried out over the last two months.

Fisheries committee  Very often, we prefer not to answer that question. We dare to think that we will never have to face that kind of situation. The model could take its inspiration from the groundfish crisis that occurred in the late 1990s. At that time, the fisheries economy rested in large part on the groundfish fishery.

Fisheries committee  In 2008, we were talking about 2,252 tons of landed lobster, or 5 million pounds. That represented a slight increase, but I think you know as well as I do that landing volumes have been pretty stable for many years. On the other hand, the price declined in 2008, compared to 2007.

Fisheries committee  All right. I would just like to conclude by saying that, in addition to the catch, there is also the matter of processing, which is of concern to us. It has increased in the last two or three years but, because of our isolation, there is the problem of costs. A study is currently underway to determine which factors would allow us to continue to operate as a processor of seafoods, and particularly, lobster.

Fisheries committee  I guess most of you are here for the first time on the islands, so I wish you the warmest welcome. I hope you can come when our fishermen are out at sea. It's quite nice to see when they leave at the beginning of May. We're starting to feel the excitement around the island ports.