International Trade committee  The key factor is that they want live crab. Since Japan is very close to Russia, Russian well boats dock directly in Japan to unload their catch. That is actually why Japan has turned to Russia for its supply of snow crab. The United States turned to Canada because their stock in

International Trade committee  We currently have no surplus of crab. Over the past two years, stocks in the Bering Sea, in Alaska, have been declining, and we have had no problems selling off our crab. However, during the years when Alaska had huge quotas, it was not hard for us to sell off our crab, but we di

International Trade committee  Exactly. With a bit of competition among the countries buying our crab, we could negotiate a better price for our product.

International Trade committee  Are you talking about here, in Canada?

International Trade committee  No.

International Trade committee  There is no illegal fishing here. We cannot exclude the possibility of an individual running that risk, but there is no systematic illegal fishing in Canada. It is impossible to fish illegally.

International Trade committee  The female is very small. The mesh on our traps is large, and the female does not stay in the trap. All that we capture are males whose shell is of the legal length—95 millimetres. Once in a while, one or two young crabs get stuck between two large males. Females almost never com

International Trade committee  I should point out that snow crab is managed annually. Every year, the stock is assessed and capture rates are established. We have been fishing snow crab in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence since the mid-1960s. We have experienced both highs and lows in that time period. Today

International Trade committee  No, not at all. It's true that it is sometimes difficult to recruit workers for fishing boats and plants because the fishing season is pretty short, lasting only 10 to 12 weeks. Companies need a lot of labour over a short period of time. Of course, the workforce recruitment issu

International Trade committee  I think there are some non-tariff barriers because certain countries would prefer to receive our crab alive. I think that is starting to be the case. Currently, some fishing industries are trying to send live snow crab in very small quantities to Asian countries. It works, but it

International Trade committee  Russia exports its crab to Japan and some to China. Over the last few years, Russia's stock has been in constant decline, since illegal fishing accounts for nearly all the crab. I could not tell you what Russia's future is in this market. In my opinion, that country's stocks will

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for inviting us to appear before your committee. Each of you should have a document that I had printed in English and in French. I will make my presentation in French, and it will only take three or four minutes. In New