Fisheries committee  I'm going to say Russia.... I'm going to say Russia: They're killing people every day, and there's no reason why anyone in Canada should be afraid to kill a seal and sell their products to the world—

Fisheries committee  Yes, I know a bit about it. It went through the U.S. legislature and was voted on and passed. Because of the problem that was identified, primarily with sea lions, I believe, they allowed for the killing of sea lions in that area. This is true of the U.S. east coast as well. The

Fisheries committee  I think it's ridiculous. It's ridiculous. How healthy does the seal population have to be? You're at record levels with grey seals in the maritime provinces. The harp seal population, in the last census, was 7.6 million animals. The Baltic states released a report this past f

Fisheries committee  Yes, it's my understanding that they do. Actually, I have some data that was sent to me while I was on vacation last week. Some of the limited stomach sampling that was done in the winter months—I'm assuming that it was done off Nova Scotia—showed that the contents in the grey

Fisheries committee  I think it is an education program, as well as a marketing program. We need to reach out to the countries that we're currently doing trade with, not only in fish products but in all products, and educate them as to what happened to the great fishery that we had in Atlantic Cana

Fisheries committee  We're just talking about utilizing seals for the good of people and for food. We have a country in the world right now.... I can't even go there....

Fisheries committee  There is a two-letter answer: no.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I certainly agree with that statement. Seals will eat anything in the ocean. Depending on seasonality, meaning when certain species are available, they will consume that species. Depending on the numbers of seals, the impact on the particular population can be significant.

Fisheries committee  A year or so ago I spoke to some of you parliamentarians with another group. We talked to 50 MPs across Canada, and practically all were 100% supportive of our message, but we have an existing quota, and our quota is, I don't know, 460,000 animals, for harps. This year, the ask i

Fisheries committee  Yes. You have two fishers here today, Mr. LeClair and the other gentleman there, from P.E.I. Any science would value their input. These gentlemen have a lifetime of experience. They're on the water every day, so what they see is important. I think they have been ignored for far t

Fisheries committee  I can go only by what I see locally. I cannot say what the mindset in Ottawa is. Locally, among the scientists who have been involved with the fishing industry and in particular with seals, the mindset is that seals—I can give you press release after press release—have no impac

Fisheries committee  The Marine Mammal Protection Act was put in place in 1972, I believe, mainly to protect whales. Given the increase in pinnipeds internationally—not only in Canada, although we have by far the largest numbers—the removal or negotiation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act would be

Fisheries committee  The biggest impediment would be the marketability of the products and having access to markets to encourage full utilization. At the current time, there are not adequate markets for the resource or the quota that's available.

Fisheries committee  I didn't get your full question there, Mr. Small.

Fisheries committee  Well, if you're going to have full utilization of pinnipeds, no matter the species, you're going to deal with the skin, you're going to deal with the fat, and you're going to deal with the meat and bone component. Currently, there is a small industry for fur and leather. There