Fisheries committee  In Pacific regions.

Fisheries committee  Thank you.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  No.

Fisheries committee  I agree. I think that if there had been no change, everything would have been fine. The fishing would have proceeded as usual, and more people would probably have an opportunity to get prawns in Canada rather than having them sent somewhere else.

Fisheries committee  I think that has to happen for the fishers to understand that they are supported. Processing companies and shareholding foreign-owned corporations that hold licences and control the industry and make the lion's share can't continue. We can't have this continue the way it is. It

Fisheries committee  Yes. I think even in this species-specific fishing industry, about 50% control of the licences is held by first nations at this point. Their licences are used for boats on PPFA, so fishers are not fully represented. Fishers are not represented fully by the PPFA. It's more of an i

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  No, because they become a CFIA problem after that.

Fisheries committee  I think I would echo Sonia's words about giving fishers an opportunity to have a fair playing field so that they have an opportunity to fish and make a living so that they're supported and feel like they are supported the same way that industry is—“industry” being the large fish-

Fisheries committee  Fishermen selling their live prawns directly to the retail customers are selling at anywhere between $10 and $25 a pound.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely. That's one of the problems with some of the leasing structures and issues with the licences in the Pacific region, in that fishers are essentially employees of the fish company that gives them the money to go fishing. They're then beholden, and they have to sell the f

Fisheries committee  Yes. I think that plays a significant part in the challenges. Fishing companies are the ones calling people to lease licences. It's often not fishermen. The goal is to control as much access to product as possible. Their interest is not in supporting fishermen.

Fisheries committee  No. In my experience, in the discussion that they had, they did not. They talked about their interaction with industry. As I mentioned earlier, the industry they are referring to is a large association that generally is controlled by processors that send fish overseas and not t

Fisheries committee  I agree.