Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  The main objective, as described earlier on, was a viable lobster fishery, basically, in the Eastport Peninsula area. That was the goal. The measures that have been put in place since include science programs that measure the catch per unit effort, that is, how abundant the lobst

Fisheries committee  The size of the actual Eastport MPA is 2.1 kilometres. It's around two islands, so it's a relatively small area. Science has been done through the tagging program, as mentioned, about how much lobsters move around inside and outside. It has shown that lobsters don't move a trem

Fisheries committee  Exactly.

Fisheries committee  I'm not sure if you can create the biodiversity argument there. This is about the movement of lobsters as opposed to the—

Fisheries committee  I think the process actually started before the MPA discussion started. As mentioned, in the early nineties, fishers noticed a change in the abundance of lobster due to the pressure put on it. Before there was actual discussion about an MPA, there was a management plan put in pla

Fisheries committee  It was quite a long process, yes.

Fisheries committee  I wasn't part of that.

Fisheries committee  I think it's fair to say that Eastport went ahead because of the strong support of local fishers and the local community. I know that about the Eastport. I'm not sure about the....

Fisheries committee  Well I guess the success in Eastport went largely back to the fact that, from a DFO perspective, DFO was actually approached by the local fishers. Right out of the gate, we had the support of the local fishers, who also brought along the support of the local communities and so on

Fisheries committee  It was one of the first ones, yes.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to be here today. The Government of Canada remains committed to increasing the protection of Canada's marine and coastal areas from the current 7.75% to 10% by 2020. My role includes managing regional initia