Fisheries committee  That's not something we've discussed. Again, from our standpoint on the quotas side, there's full compliance in Atlantic Canada. Again, a forensic audit conducted by the Government of Canada over the past several months verified that 98% of all licences are in compliance in terms of Canadian ownership.

Fisheries committee  I'm not fully up to speed on the west coast occurrence. On the east coast, what I'll say, as I indicated in my opening comments, is that we are fully compliant with owner-operator and fleet separation policies and the preservation of the inshore fleet in Atlantic Canada. Jennifer Mooney made an appearance—I believe it was last week—and said they've pretty well audited about a quarter of all inshore licences in Atlantic Canada.

Fisheries committee  The only thing I can add on that topic.... I'm not immersed on the west coast, but I am on the Fisheries Council of Canada and I deal with a lot of colleagues on the west coast, a lot of family-run businesses, a lot of companies that have priorities similar to ours and similar objectives of providing meaningful value and creating meaningful employment for their members and their companies, as well as providing fair market value for harvesters.

Fisheries committee  The best way to respond to that is that as a business we get targeted because we're a large company. It could be the employees or it could be the company itself. We're quite proud of the fact that we're a family-run business. Martin and Blaine Sullivan come from a fishing family.

Fisheries committee  No. Newfoundland and Labrador is a bit unique from that standpoint. We actually have a collective agreement in this province whereby fish prices are set based on negotiations. It's an independent process established by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. We take a position forward to the independent arbitrator every year, and the processing sector and the harvesting sector do the same.

Fisheries committee  I think, yes, there is free and open competition between harvesters and processors in Newfoundland and Labrador. I can speak for our company. We completely abide by the Atlantic policies that exist right now in owner-operator and fleet separation policies and the preservation of the inshore fleet.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Small, for your question. There are a variety of relationships that occur between the harvesting sector and the processing sector in the province. We are part of those relationships, of course. Some of them would involve direct engagement between a harvester and a processor in terms of supply agreements, and some of them could involve just direct relationships between harvesters and processors in terms of harvesting and processing product and helping to get product to market.

Fisheries committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans. I'm here today representing Ocean Choice International. Ocean Choice is a family-owned and family-operated Newfoundland and Labrador seafood company that was started over 20 years ago by brothers Martin and Blaine Sullivan from the southern shore, an area of the province with deep roots in the fishing industry.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I could certainly cite an example or two. There are many times that we align very well with DFO, but there are times when those things happen. The 3Ps cod would be a classic example, I suppose. This is where, for a number of years, we were following a biomass of our year class of cod coming through.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. It's certainly one that I'm extremely interested in. I started my career actually working with indigenous groups in Nunavut, with the Nunavut government back in 2000. I was very heavily involved through the land claim agreement process in Nunavut in terms of advancing science programming and advancing indigenous knowledge and considerations into the decision-making process.

Fisheries committee  I'd need to get my calculator out for that one, I think. It's a very good question. That would provide tremendous value if targeted in the right direction. I want to preface all of this by saying that we're certainly not opposed to the investments that have been made in ocean science.

Fisheries committee  Yes, absolutely. It's not even a debatable topic. There's no doubt that the use of industry platforms when properly standardized, with proper engagement between the industry platform provider, the industry association engaged and DFO, you go through that proper exercise.... Coast Guard government research vessels certainly cannot match the cost-effectiveness, and I would argue they probably can't match the coverage and the reliability.

Fisheries committee  Again, I use the example of the Northern Shrimp Research Foundation. It's a really good example. We've been doing this survey now since 2004, I believe. All the offshore members in the shrimp fishery are engaged in this. It's off the coast of Labrador and south of Nunavut. The survey was conducted, and our vessel was used for that particular survey.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. As Dr. Vascotto indicated earlier, many of us are engaged in stock assessment, science processes and management decision-making processes with DFO on key stocks—whether it's the CSAS process or fisheries advisories processes. I think we generally get access to the data and we're generally part of that process.

Fisheries committee  The implications, as I indicated partially at least in my opening comments, are significant. These multispecies surveys are the basis for decision-making on many key fish stocks. I'll use our company as an example. I highlighted the 3LMNO missed surveys for the past two years and that potentially the spring survey this year was missed as well—so three consecutive years.