Thank you very much, Madam Chair, for the opportunity to speak with you virtually today.

The Lobster Council of Canada represents the entire lobster value chain, with members involved in harvesting, buying, processing, live-shipping and exporting Canadian lobster—the best in the world. We focus on the lobster market, managing marketing and promotion programs, providing advocacy and education for our members on market access issues, sharing market intelligence with our members, working with governments on trade development projects and managing the Marine Stewardship Council eco-certification program along with P.E.I. for inshore lobster from the maritime provinces. Our members come from all five eastern Canadian provinces.

As Paul mentioned, lobster is the highest value fishery and seafood sector in Canada, with an export value in 2023 of $2.6 billion. It employs thousands of Canadians on about 9,500 fishing boats, at hundreds of shoreside processing and live-shipping companies and associated industries. We are the world's largest producer of lobster, landing up over 200 million pounds on an annual basis with 50% of the value exported live and 50% in processed forms. Key export markets mirror those Paul just talked about: in 2023, the U.S. took 60% of our lobster, 20% went to China, Europe took 10%, and other markets in Asia and elsewhere took 10%.

One of our key areas of focus is advocacy and education, focused on market access challenges with our key trading partners in the U.S., Europe and Asia. We work with the federal market access secretariat that Paul talked about, which is made up of officials from CFIA and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. We collaborate with DFO's international management section and work with Global Affairs and our trade commissioners all around the world, who offer us vital eyes on the ground by liaising with importing associations and officials from other countries.

One key market access challenge is focused on supporting the management of our interactions with the North Atlantic right whale. To abide by the Species at Risk Act and similar rules and regulations of our key trading partners, DFO and Transport Canada have implemented whale mitigation measures that have allowed lobster harvesters to continue to fish when the whales are present in the spring. Specifically, the American Marine Mammal Protection Act compels Canada to take these actions to ensure continued market access, which to date has been successful and, as noted above, aligns with our own Species at Risk Act responsibilities. As our customers around the world are concerned about marine mammal protection, we spend a considerable amount of time, with the support of DFO international officials, telling the right whale mitigation story to the world.

Recent events in lobster fishing area 23 on the Acadian peninsula in New Brunswick are testing these measures as we speak today. It's a complicated issue, as we must abide by Canadian and international laws and agreements, keep our MSC eco-certification and ensure continued market access while protecting the livelihoods of harvesters and the shoreside sector. It's a delicate dance.

We are proud that all inshore lobster from the maritime provinces and most of Quebec is certified under the sustainability standards of the Marine Stewardship Council. The little blue MSC fish you see on the packaging is the gold standard in eco-certification worldwide.

Other market access issues that we are monitoring in the U.S. include the Food Safety Modernization Act, the seafood import monitoring program and the upcoming U.S. lobster gauge increase. Many of these issues are focused on increased traceability, which is a worldwide trend that includes our domestic food processing industry as well.

We're not alone. In Europe, there are new rules being introduced focused on animal welfare, so we are engaging with our sector's customers and import associations as necessary and in collaboration with our trade commissioners and Global Affairs Canada. In China, our processing sector has experienced delays in receiving approvals from Chinese customs authorities.

To summarize, we work very closely with federal and provincial government departments and our members and lobster buyers around the world to ensure that live and processed lobster retain market access everywhere with the least amount of disruption and cost to our harvesters, processors, live-shippers and exporters.

I'll be happy to answer any questions.