Fisheries committee  I'm good. Thanks.

Fisheries committee  I'll just say—Denise can correct me if I'm wrong—that at least we've tried. A lot of the work we do is in house, so we don't always use PSPC. That has certainly helped us a lot in terms of efficiency, and getting things done much quicker and at a lower cost.

Fisheries committee  Yes, it has, several times. I think as Denise mentioned, we've looked at alternatives to deliver the program. The challenge is that there are very few parties interested in taking on this kind of responsibility for a structure that's—

Fisheries committee  You raise a valid point. As I say, we have looked at it before, and that's something we continue to look at. In terms of the industry contributing more to the costs of the operations of the harbour, they do pay fees to the harbour authorities and there are certainly opportunities

Fisheries committee  We've looked at a public-private partnership. I'm not sure if that was an actual co-op model. We looked at, as well, a special operating agency. As I say, we do continue to look at those alternatives, and we'd certainly be interested in any suggestions or ideas that the committee

Fisheries committee  As you've noted, there is definitely more of an interest in taking on some of the recreational harbours and making them more of a marine infrastructure, where the municipality that takes it on board can actually generate some significant revenue. The first nations piece is someth

Fisheries committee  They're not part of our mandate. As I mentioned, in 1995, the decision was made that the mandate of the program would really focus on supporting commercial fishing operations.

Fisheries committee  The fleet changes would depend on which fishery you were talking about. If we were to take an example in the area of southwest Nova Scotia and the lobster fishery, we're not getting more boats, but we are getting larger boats, for sure.

Fisheries committee  They would have more efficient fishing capacity.

Fisheries committee  I think in terms of our A-base, what we've been saying is that doubling it would get us to a point where we could manage a lot of the challenges we have.

Fisheries committee  We talked about climate change. That's a huge issue not only in terms of keeping up with dredging requirements, but in dealing with, as was mentioned, intensity of storms and damage and repairs to our small craft harbours. The second one I would say is that what we're seeing amo

Fisheries committee  At this stage, with the challenges we face and the resources at our disposal, I don't think we'd be in a position to take on the additional piece around recreational activities. I also mentioned aquaculture as an increasingly interested industry that accesses our harbours.

Fisheries committee  The harbours we are trying to divest are those that accommodate recreational boats or that do not fall within the mandate of the program. It was decided in 1995, I believe, that the mandate of the program would be limited to facilitating commercial fishing. That is why we have an

Fisheries committee  There are a lot of things that we've not been able to address in terms of longer-term planning, because we've received these injections of short-term funding with deliverables in extremely tight timelines, capital projects, and bringing the small craft harbours up to a state wher

Fisheries committee  One of the things we looked at in the past is alternative delivery of the program. To date, we've been unable to find another delivery mechanism, other than the one that we have, that would be as effective or that would reduce the costs to the federal government. That is ongoing