Fisheries committee  The advice was we were in a downward trend, and the risks were that we would see the need for further reductions. If we didn't take the reductions earlier we'd see the need for bigger ones later. Those were the risks, and the view of the stakeholders was pretty clear. We had reductions that were larger than they had asked for, or they had asked for fewer reductions in some of the points leading up to this part of the cycle.

Fisheries committee  It went from 36,000 down to 20,000, so we have had lots of reduction. It's just that they were concerned that we were going too fast, and at that point there wasn't a huge risk of saying if you're prepared, if you want us to do that you can, but you'll have to be prepared for the bigger reduction later on.

Fisheries committee  Most enterprises have a number of licences associated with them. Some crab fishermen have lobster licences, some have pelagics, and so on. If there are hardships in one fishery, they may start looking at using their licences in others. That perhaps is something that we should be considering more, as part of the normal process, because to have people dependent on one fishery means, in the crab fishery, a $2-million boat could be used for four weeks and then it's on the beach.

Fisheries committee  I think from an economics point of view, obviously there are hardships. We used to have people come in and out and in and out. There was a great deal of controversy, conflict, and confrontation around that whole process. A decision was made some years ago to say you're all in, you're going to ride it up, and you're going to have to live through the lean times.

Fisheries committee  We used to have co-management agreements in all of area 12. There was a great deal of controversy. As we go through these parts of cycles, it gets very difficult. As we went through the upswing part of the cycle, there was a lot of controversy around introduction of new players and participants and how they were handled as things went down.

Fisheries committee  Their advice did not include specific figures. They pointed out that if total catches reached a certain level, then there would be a certain element of risk. It was clear that stocks were declining. We had to make a choice. The scientists said that the risk would increase if catches were highers, and clearly, if the situation became more critical, more difficult decisions would then have to be made later.

Fisheries committee  The provincial ministers were on hand for the meetings with the fishers and the scientists. We had to make some calls, because there were changes made after the meetings. We were pressed this year to come to a decision because the fishing season was due to start very early as a result of high water temperatures.

Fisheries committee  I think there's tremendous pressure on governments when these cycles go up. For the people in the neighbourhood--when the groundfish were collapsing, especially--what do we do with them? It's one reason why there's a number of people in the fishery. It does create economic pressure on the low part of the cycle, but on the high part, there's room for everybody and they can all make a good living.

Fisheries committee  Total catches have declined over the past five years. We have heeded the advice of our scientists and we have taken steps to reduce catches. Last year, however, fishers asked that the quota be maintained at 22,000 tonnes and that difficult decisions be deferred. That is what they asked us to do.

Fisheries committee  In 2009, the fishers asked that...

Fisheries committee  The scientists said that fish stocks were clearly declining a little. We were in a cycle in which stocks were declining. There are a number of ways to manage risk and we resorted to these approaches. However, given the precautionary approach, this year we had to make some decisions that were more difficult.

Fisheries committee  We do a fall survey in the bulk of the area. The fall survey will estimate the number of males that are over 95 millimetres across the carapace. That would be the commercial biomass that would be available to the fishery. Then the fishery is prosecuted, and they'll remove or they'll ask for almost 21,000 tonnes.

Fisheries committee  In the gulf, I don't want to talk about ongoing investigations; I'll just refer to historical ones. We have seen, not necessarily in the southern gulf but certainly in the gulf, situations of collusion between skippers, observers, dockside monitors, and plants, similar to what was observed to have taken place recently in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Fisheries committee  I think we're within a few percentage points, so it's pretty accurate, but there are going to be people who try to take advantage of it. The individual cases can add up to a substantial amount when you're looking at whole companies and groups of fishermen working to avoid it. But we're pretty confident that we're providing the right kind of deterrence.

Fisheries committee  The advice we give usually will include reference to, obviously, the stock status report. We summarize it in the memorandum and in the briefing material, but there is reference to the stock status report. On the outcome of the advisory committees, generally that takes longer to publish than the time we have--i.e., between the time the advisory committee takes place and the time we need to get the fishery open.