Fisheries committee  It depends on the capacity of the service providers we have currently. Certainly if we had more money, we would probably increase the dredging. Right now we are limited to just the pure safety and priority and—

Fisheries committee  It would either expand their business or create an opportunity for another business. The reason I'm hesitant is I don't necessarily have information on their current maximum capacity.

Fisheries committee  The overcrowding issue is something which we also need to address. That's very challenging, very costly. When we don't address the overcrowding issue, we run into some very challenging safety issues.

Fisheries committee  This would certainly benefit the program, because at present, the financial pressure from dredging is eroding our ability to undertake repair or construction projects. Indeed, it would be nice if there was a separate budget. I would like to clarify something for the committee.

Fisheries committee  We have developed a tool that enables us to assess or estimate the rise in water level. We take climate change into account in the design of the infrastructure we need to build.

Fisheries committee  This is the first time I've heard about this robot. It's interesting. I'm looking forward to exploring this idea. I don't have an example of new technologies, but it's certainly something we're going to study. To reduce dredging needs, we will need a long-term plan for our stru

Fisheries committee  In terms of the service delivery models that were explored, they looked at the operations of all harbours using public and private partnerships. That was one option that was looked at. There was divestiture of all harbours and delivery of a new contribution program during the tra

Fisheries committee  We've looked at those possibilities, but at the end of the day, because of the high carrying costs of the infrastructure and the low potential for generating revenue, the model we have in small craft harbours is still more costly.

Fisheries committee  In the lease that we have with harbour authorities, it stipulates that they are responsible for the day-to-day management of facilities and minor maintenance work. It is true that some—

Fisheries committee  It's not that specific, no. One of the things we're undertaking this year, and we've just set up a national committee, is a lease review. We will be looking into the lease, and we will be engaging with harbour authorities in this exercise.

Fisheries committee  I wouldn't say that there has been no data for five years. A fulsome assessment, where we have a number that captures the full inventory, the most up-to-date information, is from 2013, but—

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  It's true that there is limited capacity to do the dredging, but I haven't come across too many examples where we have run into situations with the contractor per se. It's more a challenge from the financial perspective to address the urgencies that pop up that weren't planned.

Fisheries committee  We've looked at predicting how much the dredging costs could increase. We are seeing a move. As Sylvie mentioned, it costs us $8.6 million, but we're predicting that this will move up to $21 million, so we are looking at projecting the requirements for dredging costs, and it is i

Fisheries committee  I wouldn't say that. We update the data on the quality of our facilities on an ongoing basis, but I have to say to the committee that we are currently undertaking an exercise where we are going to be retaining a consultant to do another refresh of our data.