Fisheries committee  Mr. Chairman, I'd certainly be pleased to answer that. The one thing I should say, though, is that in chapter 9 we looked at something called strategic environmental assessments, not at what you're referring to, I think, which are environmental assessments. They're quite a different thing.

Fisheries committee  I'd be delighted to. There is, at present, a listing of these environmental agreements. One can determine by piecing together information from various departments what the agreements are. What is lacking, sir, is an indication of what the agreements are designed to bring about, what kind of result is expected from signing these agreements, the expectation that was in people's minds when they were signed.

Fisheries committee  Are you referring to the agreements, sir? I could tell you the four agreements we looked at under Fisheries and Oceans Canada, if that would be helpful. We looked at four of the agreements that are the responsibility of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. We looked at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, and the Pacific Salmon Treaty.

Fisheries committee  One of the things we didn't do is put the details in the chapter. We didn't try to analyze agreement by agreement. I might suggest that the member might like to have a look at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans website, where a lot of this information should be. We pulled that out just this morning and found not very much information about that.

Fisheries committee  I'm looking at DFO's website, and here's what you will find about that on the website. NASCO was established under the convention for the conservation of salmon in the North Atlantic Ocean, which came into force on October 1, 1983. NASCO uses the best scientific evidence available to promote the conservation, restoration, enhancement and rational management of salmon stocks that migrate beyond areas of fisheries jurisdiction of coastal states of the Atlantic Ocean north of 36 degrees north latitude throughout their migratory range.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are pleased to be here today to discuss chapters 5, 6, 8, 9 and 14 of our 2008 Status Report, which was tabled in Parliament on March 6. Chapter 5 deals with protection of species at risk, chapter 6 with control of aquatic invasive species, chapter 8 with international environmental agreements, chapter 9 with strategic environmental assessments and chapter 14 with genetically engineered fish.