Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the witnesses, whose remarks have been very useful.
Earlier, Mr. Côté, who was unfortunately having connection problems, did not have time to finish his recommendations. If the situation has not improved for him, if I may, I am going to list the following recommendations on his behalf: the creation of an income protection program for fishers and helpers in the event of a fishery closure; a socioeconomic impact study of the implementation of right whale protection measures and measures to mitigate the repercussions on the fishery sector; putting protection measures in place that take into account the unique geographic and technical features of each fishery; and postponing the mandatory application of additional measures, such as weak links and specialized ropes, as long as feasibility research on the ground has not been completed and as long as sufficient quantities of gear are not available on the markets for fishers.
I have taken the liberty of completing the reading of those recommendations.
I am going to address Mr. Mallet or Mr. Noël, who are not having connection problems, and so who will be able to answer my questions.
It is the question I asked earlier, Mr. Cormier, about communications.
Could we make a recommendation that would look like this?
DFO makes use of many measures, resources and protection methods. It takes a very technical approach. Are there enough expert opinions of a socioeconomic nature regarding the indirect benefits in the communities and the economic impact, on the ground, for fishers, and so on?
Could we ask DFO to put more emphasis on the socioeconomic repercussions of its measures?
Might that be a useful recommendation?