Fisheries committee  Vessel leasing.

Fisheries committee  —the ability to fish in other provinces, for example.

Fisheries committee  I don't know. I don't know the answer. As I said before, what's missing is common sense. If you can have a rule.... Jason just pointed this out very well. If you can have one rule for vessel licensing in the Maritimes and Quebec but then a totally different rule in Newfoundland

Fisheries committee  From my perspective, Mr. Donnelly, what's happened is over the years things got too comfortable between DFO and the union, and things need to be shaken up. There needs to be challenge.

Fisheries committee  How many fishermen and fish harvesters in Newfoundland and Labrador is a good question. As I pointed out in my presentation, the Labour Relations Board has been trying to find that out for 15 months, and there's no end in sight for that. I also mentioned in my presentation that,

Fisheries committee  This gets back to your original question and how this relationship between DFO and the FFAW is warped. There's no short answer to that.

Fisheries committee  That's the problem. You just hit the nail on the head right there. Too often, harvesters can't tell who the boss is. Is it the union? Is it the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans? That whole line has been blurred. That's the problem.

Fisheries committee  Mr. McDonald, you brought it up again in the last meeting of this committee, and it was mentioned here today, and it's consultation. Obviously, I mentioned it in my presentation. It's DFO having its finger on the pulse of what's going on with harvesters. It's not relying on any u

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. My name is Ryan Cleary, president of the Federation of Independent Sea Harvesters of Newfoundland and Labrador, or FISH-NL, as we're known back home. I'm here with Merv Wiseman. He is one of the founders of FISH-NL. As mentioned

Fisheries committee  It was right next to Mr. Donnelly.

Fisheries committee  Four of us will. Merv and I will share our time.

Fisheries committee  Jason and John will each have 10 minutes.