Mr. John Menarry:

The price of everything is dictated by the price of fuel, whether product is being delivered or taken away. Between the increases in the cost of fuel for vessels, of storing and freezing bait and of transport to market, all our costs have increased. As primary producers, we are unable to pass on those increased costs. We are supplying suppliers whose costs, in turn, are increasing. They are able to cut the price they pay to us to slightly soften their cost increases. We have to absorb our own increase in costs and are getting a cut on the product we supply because other others' increasing costs. We are getting squeezed from both sides, which cuts our viability and means we cannot invest in our businesses. It is, in fact, a struggle to maintain the business we have, which puts pressure on the people involved and their families. It puts an awful strain not only financially but also mentally on people who are trying to survive with no supports.