Fisheries committee  Another thing, Mike, is that our fishermen were adamant that before they gave up 50 traps we had to see something coming from the province and the federal government. They were adamant about that.

Fisheries committee  I'm glad you brought that up. One of the things we found ourselves dealing with a few years back, when we were getting $5.25 and $6.25 for lobsters.... We were still having problems, and one of the things we did as an association—the PEIFA was adamant in going after this, and it

Fisheries committee  Yes, I do.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  We covered the whole buyback scheme of things in it and we covered conservation and protection in that “Planning for the Future” report. I'd have to refer to some of the notes in it. We're going to back to 2007 now—it's been around for a couple of years, Mike. Pretty well everyth

Fisheries committee  Yes. As a bona fide fisherman, a core fisher, I don't really like that. I don't want to see corporations control various numbers of licences and dictate how it's going to be done. I'm not for that, and I don't think the fishermen of P.E.I. are for that.

Fisheries committee  We had a group of our fishermen from Southern Kings and Queens last year. It came out of our annual meeting; they formed a little committee. I think they had 10 or 12 representatives from various harbours. They met during lobster fishing every two weeks, I think, to discuss what

Fisheries committee  That's correct, Peter. That would be for the licence.

Fisheries committee  No, I haven't read about their version of the buyout. Their version and our version may differ somewhat, but I think at the end of the day, Peter, before we get down to actually buying the licences, a lot of people are going to have to come together to figure out what we're going

Fisheries committee  Our fishermen, when we had the meetings in the fall of 2007, indicated very strongly that when we bought these licences out, they were to be dead: taken out of the system completely, left with no bona fide.... They're done.

Fisheries committee  It's the only way we're interested in doing it.

Fisheries committee  I'm only aware of two or three trust agreements. I've never personally been involved in one myself. I have a lot of family in the fishery, but none of them has been involved in trust agreements. I'm not 100% sure, Peter, how I should answer that question. Some of the guys who go

Fisheries committee  Well, I think in some of the cases that's how it went down; it was a matter of survival and was the only avenue they had to get into the fishery at that particular time.

Fisheries committee  If I may, Lawrence, I'll answer that question as fast as I can. Getting back to the buyback, we're wide open here. We'll be at the table if you come. Put something on paper and give it to us, we'll look at it and we'll take it to the fishermen to see what we've got. We're not go

Fisheries committee  Don is going to speak on EI, and I'll do it on the pounds.