Fisheries committee  I actually don't know why we have a picture of a whitecoat. You're right; it's a very short part of a seal's life. I can follow up and work with communications on that.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. We do have a framework for managing pinnipeds. It's part of the sustainable management of all of our fisheries in Canada. We want to ensure there's a harvest that continues to be accessible to our sealing community. That's why we apply the precautionary approach to ensure that our seals are managed sustainably.

Fisheries committee  I think that's certainly a consideration we take into account when we're making decisions around total allowable catches for our seal harvest. I mean, that is part of our science examination of both seals and cod and where there might be a relationship. Perhaps I can turn to my colleague Dr.

Fisheries committee  Hello and good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. My name is Jennifer Buie. I'm the acting director general of fisheries resource management at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. My colleagues and I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee on behalf of the department.

Fisheries committee  Yes, rebuilding plans are actually integrated into part of the Fisheries Act now. Since 2019, the fish stock provisions, as part of the Fisheries Act, require us to put in place a rebuilding plan when stocks fall below a certain reference point and they're in their critical zone.

Fisheries committee  We have an Atlantic seal advisory meeting annually. The purpose of that meeting is to get feedback from our stakeholders about what they're seeing on the water and to have an exchange of information. I wasn't there, but the seal summit certainly also provided a forum with a diverse group of stakeholders to exchange information as well, so we are in constant communication with sealers across Atlantic Canada.

Fisheries committee  A well-managed hunt is one that is first of all underpinned with science to ensure that it's sustainable and that we're keeping the population above a certain limit reference point, a healthy population of seals. A well-managed hunt is is done humanely. As I mentioned earlier, we have a three-step process to ensure that our seals are dispatched in a way that does not let them suffer.

Fisheries committee  As a resource manager, our objective is to keep the seal population healthy. Our objective is not to reduce the seal population. Just like other fisheries where we try to keep our fish at very high and heavy levels, our objective for seals is to keep—

Fisheries committee  What I'm saying is that, as a resource manager, we try to keep our stocks healthy. When they are not in a healthy state, if they're in a critical state, then we have rebuilding plans that prescribe the way we are going to rebuild those stocks to healthy levels.

Fisheries committee  Part of the rebuilding plan is working with science to develop the mechanisms to rebuild that stock, looking at all the interconnected web of the ecosystem and putting in place the measures required to rebuild that stock. I think that's looking at predation, fishing pressure and other environmental factors that might be impacting the stock.

Fisheries committee  In terms of international acceptance, as Dr. Vigneault stated, we are always promoting the sustainability of our hunt, which is well regulated and humane. Of course, we have very strong marine mammal regulations that prescribe a three-step process to ensure that the seals are humanely harvested.

Fisheries committee  I think that in terms of Norway versus Canada and our approach to nuisance seals, the MMPA certainly is a driver on why we had determined that we could no longer support the reduction of nuisance seals. I think there's concern about impacts to very important species that are exported to the U.S., such as lobster and crab.