Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll give Mr. Balfour a bit of a break here. I think everybody is aware that we have gone through a severe awakening on the issue of the fish stocks of the North Atlantic and, in fact, the fish stocks around the world. As a government, we also take part in various other RFMOs around the world in order to be good stewards of the environment.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members of the committee, I thank you for inviting me to appear before you today on the reform of the convention on multilateral cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic fisheries. My name is Alan Kessel, I am the legal advisor at Foreign Affairs and International Trade and I am accompanied by Caterina Ventura, acting director of the Oceans and Environmental Law Division.

Foreign Affairs committee  Three years ago.

Foreign Affairs committee  Well, I'm actually the legal adviser and the ADM legal at Foreign Affairs. What you described was my former job.

Foreign Affairs committee  I've enjoyed this for four years, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that my colleague from Fisheries and Oceans would like to open, and we've agreed on this.