Fisheries committee  Thank you. I'm not sure of your question. Could you tell me exactly what it is you want me to answer?

Fisheries committee  I'm not sure. I don't really know the answer to that question. I know there has been some activity off and on. I don't know whether predation is as big a factor as it is compared to what we see on the east coast and in the gulf. Then you have the Marine Mammal Protection Act. I don't know whether there's a reluctance to pursue that based on some of the challenges, that push-back there, in regard to that.

Fisheries committee  I think it's driven by agendas, but you make an interesting comment when you talk about industry and getting interconnected. Is that a basis to bring together the Canadian industry and American industry with regard to seafood and the fishery? Does that become the advocate and the lobbyist for change?

Fisheries committee  I think I mentioned in my opening comments that there was a real requirement for a commitment. That's a national commitment. It's about elected officials who sit around this table. It's about industry. It's about adapting to a new market and a new vision of what a seal hunt is, and it's about the attributes and the benefits of that mammal when it's harvested.

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much. I think you've isolated an item there in terms of...and I think we saw some of this in the Seal Summit with regard to bringing groups together in the various dialogues and in what was discussed in terms of some regions of the country. There may be a market and availability for product, but maybe it's not known and maybe the ability to get it to that market is not known.

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much. It's something, yes, that we've been looking at on a broad basis in terms of the seafood industry in Canada. Whether it's seals or some other species or some other technology, there often seems to be a separation in terms of that information and knowledge.

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much. I guess one of the issues we've heard from industry, and continue to hear, is the actual time period in collection of data. An example would be the extraction of the stomach for the evaluation of stomach content in terms of what the predation habits are of a particular seal, whether harp or grey seal.

Fisheries committee  Thanks for the question. I think, within the context of what you're describing, the answer is no if the current pattern continues. We have an ecosystem. We have tremendous predation. We need to isolate that predation and talk about how we relieve some of that pressure on both species we're harvesting today and species we want to harvest in the future.

Fisheries committee  I think there are many entrepreneurs and businesses out there that have done tremendous work. They have invested in their own research to develop those projects. I think a lot more needs to be done. If we're looking at full utilization of a seal and how we market that and the uniqueness, maybe, of the meat content and other attributes, there's a lot of work to be done.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much for the opportunity to present on the study. I certainly want to recognize the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans and the work you're doing. I look forward to your final report and recommendations. I'm the managing director of the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, which is a separate incorporated entity of Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador, with a mandate driven by an industry-led board of directors representing harvesters, processing and the aquaculture industry.