Fisheries committee  In five seconds or less, really quickly, it was really interesting during our global workshop last year in Halifax that we had someone from NOAA Fisheries in the U.S. who talked about AI in electronic monitoring, so AI is another area of technology that might be of increasing use.

Fisheries committee  Certainly, the value of the catch is part of that. You can see that some of the tuna catch goes for thousands of dollars per fish and the income you can receive for that. For organized crime, there is also the context of using fishing vessels that appear to be engaged in fishing, but there are opportunities to take advantage of potential arms trafficking or drug trafficking associated with the fishing vessel.

Fisheries committee  There is the FAO's port state measures agreement or PSMA. The importance and value of it is that it is a global treaty. It becomes more effective when more countries sign up to the port state measures agreement and have the obligations that are in there. There are obligations associated with sharing information and data for inspections conducted in port, especially when there's a risk of IUU activity associated with the vessel.

Fisheries committee  We are finding that more and more countries are signing up for the port state measures agreement. Certainly, it would be beneficial if all countries did sign up for it, but the more countries that do sign up for it, the greater the opportunities it provides. The PSMA is not the only mechanism.

Fisheries committee  The IMCS Network operates under the principles of facilitating greater co-operation, coordination and communication between the national fisheries administrations of the different countries around the globe. Our focus is on the people—the fisheries officers at the forefront of conducting enforcement—to ensure that they have the right tools to be able to do their jobs effectively.

Fisheries committee  I think that I am probably not the right person to ask specifically about Canada's domestic non-compliance issues. There are probably other witnesses who would be better able to do that. I would be more involved on the level of international or regional potential activities that would affect Canada or that Canada would be involved in.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. Certainly, the opportunity is there to operate in a more non-compliant manner, but I think the way to address non-compliance is not strictly just with at-sea patrols and trying to ensure adequate levels or optimal levels of compliance with at-sea patrols and boardings and inspections only.

Fisheries committee  The study indicated that about 20% of the imports were at risk of being taken via IUU fishing.

Fisheries committee  Our organization does not do that. We help support the fisheries officers of our members to more effectively use technology to do that.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to speak with you today. My name is Mark Young, executive director of the IMCS Network. I've spent my entire career working in fisheries compliance and enforcement, including more than 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard and more recently supporting the IMCS Network, of which Canada is a founding member.