Fisheries committee  Like I said earlier, there were three Zoom meetings this winter—virtual meetings—and that was pretty much the consultation process. Here in Newfoundland and on the northeast coast, there hasn't been much consultation with harvesters. I know there has been some push-back from harv

Fisheries committee  That would be a correct statement, yes. It's less than satisfactory. I know that these measures have been talked about for a while, but it seems like now that we're at the midnight hour, the pressure is on to try to get this whalesafe rope or ropeless gear in place. It's just n

Fisheries committee  As I said in my opening remarks, if you look at the interactive right whale map.... I mean, for 2015 to present day, there have been four sightings of right whales on the east and northeast coasts. Those were when there was very little fixed gear and absolutely no crab or lobster

Fisheries committee  I don't really know how to answer that question, because there hasn't been that much information passed on about the whalesafe fund. Going forward, the conditions we fish under.... If we're going to continue to operate under the fact that we have to have a 1,700-pound breaking

Fisheries committee  Are you talking strictly about consultation on the whalesafe rope?

Fisheries committee  Just to be clear, are you talking solely about right whales?

Fisheries committee  I can say with confidence that it's a 0% chance.

Fisheries committee  I'll have to say, from limited consultation, that I really don't have a lot of information that's been given or that I know of on this coast. I don't really know how it will work and the impacts it would have on us because we don't have the information. That leads to the point th

Fisheries committee  I can say adamantly that, no, we're not satisfied. You probably heard from Mr. Keith Sullivan in his presentation a few days ago. I was part of those two Zoom meetings last year. I was in on two and I think there were probably three. That's probably the limit of the consultatio

Fisheries committee  Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and committee members, for giving me the opportunity to present before the committee today. My brother and I are fourth-generation fishers who operate 18-foot to 65-foot fishing vessels and employ 18 crew members. The crab fishery represe

Fisheries committee  I have to disagree with Mr. Woodford on what he's saying about how everybody is not in agreement with this. I come from Fogo Island. I went to a good many meetings. I went to shrimp, and I'm part of the shrimp fleet. I go to the groundfish cod meetings, and at every meeting I've

Fisheries committee  It's not a different issue. You can count—

Fisheries committee  I've been to meetings on cod—I go up from Fogo—and everybody in that room wanted a change in buddy-up and also on vessel length.

Fisheries committee  You're talking about how the change is not wanted. Change is wanted. There is a movement of people who want change because the status quo doesn't work. We have an old industry. There are old people in this industry. I shouldn't say “old people”, but older.... The people who parti

Fisheries committee  That's the way it works. He can split it up and combine it with the other two boats. He's been fishing his whole life, since he was 15 years old, since he was old enough to get seasick. He can take his enterprise—he can split up his crab and shrimp—and he can put it on other vess