Foreign Affairs committee  There is not a single thing, Mr. Harris.

Foreign Affairs committee  That's right.

Foreign Affairs committee  On that particular question of two-thirds voting instead of majorities, I was a member of all the NAFO delegations and all the NAFO meetings from the beginning of NAFO in 1978 until I retired in 1995. In every one of those meetings, we had to scramble to get a simple majority vote for any decision that involved cutting down total allowable catch limits.

Foreign Affairs committee  To deal with the last part of Mr. Byrne's question, it is true that if an objection is lodged, states will be able to continue to fish without hindrance until an entire process has gone through, which cannot be effectively concluded to overrule that during the fishing season. The procedure is set up where there are panel procedures.

Foreign Affairs committee  The amendments to revise it. Maybe I can answer Mr. Lunney's question too, because I think he asked a question and I don't think he got a straight answer for it. I believe this was your question. If under this procedure an objection is lodged, do they have to fish within the limits that were set in the NAFO decision, their quota limits, until these processes are completed?

Foreign Affairs committee  It's the equivalent. It's the UNCLOS tribunal or the UNFA tribunal.

Foreign Affairs committee  With respect to the international tribunals you're talking about, I was involved with the Gulf of Maine arbitration for the boundary between Canada and the United States as well as the Canada-France arbitration about the boundary. Those things took from two to three years and involved, for Canada alone, maybe $10 million to $20 million of expenditures.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, that's right.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes, sir, that's incorrect.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and honourable members, my name is Bob Applebaum, as you have heard. I'm a former director general for international relations in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, retired since 1996. During my public service career, I was a member of the Canadian delegation during the 1970s to the United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.