Fisheries committee  Yes, we certainly do. In most of Canada, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act applies. In the Yukon, CEAA does not apply. We have a Yukon-specific act called YESAA, the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act. There's a very similar but different process that's very rigorous, which involves environmental assessment of all projects that have an impact on land and water in the Yukon.

Fisheries committee  Basically a subsistence fishery is our term for an aboriginal fishery. They are more or less interchangeable. But we distinguish between a domestic fishery, which is a licensed fishery, and a subsistence fishery, which is a fishery taking place under aboriginal treaty rights, so it's not a fishery that the Yukon government licenses.

Fisheries committee  I would characterize the main threats to habitat as mining—mineral extraction, both hard rock and placer mining—hydro development, and to some degree linear development, so roadways. Yukon government, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Council of Yukon First Nations agreed some years ago to develop a new system for managing placer mining in the Yukon, but in particular the impacts of placer mining on fish.

Fisheries committee  That's correct, yes. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans has issued authorizations to permit placer mining activities in different watersheds. There is a set of rules and conditions that would apply to those operations.

Fisheries committee  An additional value that comes forward in a system like this is that the identification of a problem or issue is no longer the sole responsibility of the management authority. Now, you're getting all these people who have very intimate knowledge of the resources, being on the land, saying that they see a problem and that something needs to be done about it.

Fisheries committee  You mean the recreational fishery?

Fisheries committee  Just to add one point to what Dan is saying, it also comes back to the mandate of the fisheries managers in Yukon. Our mandate is really around ensuring that the resources for whatever fishery is prosecuted remain sustainable. We don't have a mandate for the economic development of fisheries, which I think is maybe the distinction between our role for Yukon government and the role of a lot of other provincial agencies.

Fisheries committee  It's interesting, actually. We've done studies and we've asked people why they go fishing. The top five answers have nothing to do with catching fish, eating fish, or taking fish home for their freezer. They have to do with being outside, being with their family, and being relaxed.

Fisheries committee  I like to take credit for it, as it's part of a very directed strategy, but I think the truth is that it's something we try to do as a general practice. We try to involve the community and involve youth. It's something that young people in particular are really passionate about.

Fisheries committee  I think just a description of the nature of access would clarify. There's no marine access in Yukon, except for on the north slope, which is not accessible by road. So what we're talking about are essentially boat ramps in lakes and in some cases maybe a breakwater. So there is basically a gravel boat ramp or maybe some concrete lines down to water, typically installed at campgrounds or in a couple of small private marinas on rivers.

Fisheries committee  I was thinking that if you have some flexibility in your schedule, August is a really nice and interesting time to come, partly because that's when the salmon are here. Certainly, there's an experience to see freshwater fish throughout the open water season, but the salmon are in the Yukon in August, and these are some of the longest salmon runs in the world.

Fisheries committee  It's something that we're preparing right now, actually. We'll get—

Fisheries committee  —them finished for them very shortly.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I think Dan is right. I think there are some fundamental differences in terms of the types of fisheries that Alaska prosecutes compared to what Yukon does. They have very large offshore fisheries. Dan mentioned the pollock fisheries. America's largest fishery takes place in Alaska.

Fisheries committee  I think it stems largely from an information gap, a data gap. We have been focusing our management efforts on lakes, on large and small lakes that are readily accessible. We know that a lot of fishing goes on in rivers. They tend to be much more difficult to study, which is partly why management is focused on lakes.