Finance committee  That had a huge impact. Last year we had hurricane Fiona, which was obviously devastating to the southwest coast of Newfoundland, but that system pushed it onto the Grand Banks. We fish yellowtail flounder in a very shallow water environment. We had temperature spikes—I forget the exact temperatures—up around six, seven and eight degrees on the sea floor, where the normal temperature would be three degrees perhaps.

Finance committee  It's hard to answer that question, really, because I don't know the specifics around what an incentive program might look like. We have retirees who come and work for us seasonally. We have people, unfortunately for Mr. Foley, who came out of the hospitality sector in Bonavista with the massive challenges in hospitality in 2020 and 2021 during COVID.

Finance committee  There's a lot to cover there, but I'll try to do it very succinctly. Our labour force is divided basically into land-based processing facilities and offshore vessels. We have four active offshore vessels right now, where we would employ maybe 500 people, give or take, 400 to 500 people in total.

Finance committee  I missed your question on the labour shortage. Absolutely—we're all facing a labour shortage. Given the wind energy developments that are about to occur around the province, I fear that we're going to have further labour shortages that we're going to have to face. Our company introduced temporary foreign workers last year for the first time in our history.

Finance committee  There's nothing that we are aware of right now. There's research and there's activity around biofuel. That's not our space. That's for others to develop. We encourage the development of it, but there are issues around that. There's carbon-capture technology that people are pursuing, but there are issues around that in Atlantic Canada as well.

Finance committee  No. I don't recall a time period before 2019 or 2020 in which a survey was not conducted. In the last four years, in particular, we've had [Technical difficulty—Editor] issues.

Finance committee  Yes, I'm generally aware. I wouldn't know exact numbers, but certainly there have been budget increases, absolutely.

Finance committee  In terms of core multispecies science surveys...and for those of you who don't understand it, every year the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans does a spring and fall survey, which they call a multispecies survey. They'll go out, all the way from the coast of Labrador to the southern Grand Banks, and do a multispecies survey over a period of two to three months.

Finance committee  I think it works both ways. There are examples of how we've been penalized for lack of data and lack of information and ultra-conservative decisions have been made. The situation with Greenland halibut is a very good recent example of that. There are also examples of how we just don't know.

Finance committee  The clean fuel regulation was implemented in July this year. We can only project what the cost might be, but what I can tell you is that, as of July 3, which was the first day things were open after Canada Day.... We have two oil companies that we source oil from in this province.

Finance committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance. I'm here today representing Ocean Choice International. Ocean Choice is a family-owned and -operated Newfoundland and Labrador seafood company that was started over 20 years ago by brothers Martin and Blaine Sullivan.

Fisheries committee  No. I made the point earlier that all I can do is speak for the Atlantic coast. Certainly on the Atlantic coast, we have a high level of compliance, both in terms of domestic ownership as well as in following the existing inshore policies. We'll continue to operate within that framework and respect that, and hopefully provide value for both the harvesting and processing sectors.

Fisheries committee  I would say it's critical on both the inshore and offshore portion of our business. Stable quota shares are critical to us in our offshore business. We employ several hundred people in our offshore boats. Some of that product is a land-based process in processing facilities and the service supports that are provided for that.

Fisheries committee  We do what we can within the rules that are provided. It's important to have relationships to ensure we have raw material for those operations, but I would also say, Mr. Arnold, that it's critically important as part of that relationship to provide the best market value we can for harvesters in terms of shore price.

Fisheries committee  From our standpoint, we operate as a 100% Canadian-owned and operated business. I'll note that last week Mark Waddell appeared before the committee on the beneficial ownership survey and verified that in Atlantic Canada, at least 98% of all licences were in compliance in terms of domestic ownership.