Fisheries committee  I'll start. No question, that is something we would look at. It's something that we are looking at. When we talk about the number of rivers we have, it is a challenge. Gérald said earlier that probably, given the area that we're covering, we're going to have to continue to work w

Fisheries committee  Gérald, I think we do. As I said earlier, we have about 1,000 rivers in eastern Canada, and we have about 500 where we have some sort of conservation requirement, those limit reference points. But we have about 60 to 90 where we actually do an assessment based on counts and based

Fisheries committee  We do, and we can do more. There's no question. In terms of fisheries stakeholders, for most fisheries we work with the Commercial Salmon Advisory Board. On Atlantic salmon and, I would say, on Pacific salmon we work with them. It's a passionate group. It expands enormously our a

Fisheries committee  I'll start on striped bass. We did actually expand it last year, and we expanded it at a time when the biomass went down, so we still don't know where this particular biomass of striped bass is going to land. There is a fair amount of uncertainty of how much there is, and not as

Fisheries committee  Can I jump in?

Fisheries committee  I'll be very brief. Just a couple of facts: yes, they do produce some fish, but not much. I think 70%, we estimate, is North American-based. It could be higher, but the rest is European, so the Europeans and us have this concern in common, and we will continue to be vigilant on i

Fisheries committee  We're actually working on that for Atlantic salmon. In the way that we do it now, we have—I've forgotten exactly how to say it—conservation objectives for key rivers, for index rivers, of a certain amount of eggs per square metre. We establish that. Now we are moving bit by bit

Fisheries committee  We have NASCO, the international organization that looks after North Atlantic salmon, and all the major players are there. We do exchange information. We've got a pretty good sense of where the catches are. Greenland is an issue. Saint Pierre and Miquelon is a very small issue, o

Fisheries committee  A lot of local groups working along the river have neat little projects: a fish wheel, a little habitat program; many little programs partner with the department throughout the fishing season. And those are really worth seeing. The department does important work, but stakeholders

Fisheries committee  On the east coast, it is actually provincially regulated. DFO has some responsibilities but in terms of siting and those types of things, those are provincial responsibilities. I'd also point out the point that was made first around escapements, that they are something that is p

Fisheries committee  This is a personal view, and I'll ask Trevor to jump in—

Fisheries committee  Okay, the departmental view, in terms of what we're doing, is we are doing, I would say, more of the same, because that's where we've been directed. But we do think, and we've said it here a few times, that if there is going to be anything approximate to a magic bullet, it's arou

Fisheries committee  I think we have determined that we do need to do more on habitat, we do need to do more in various areas, no question about that. But the big issue that we've got the most questions about, and where we really think there's a lot of loss, is at-sea mortality. It's understanding th

Fisheries committee  That was my personal view. But I do think that's where the department's at. I don't think you'll find anything that says we think this is the silver bullet. Seriously, we have to not drop anything because we've actually had some success in terms of what we've done. The amount of

Fisheries committee  What I would say—and I'll ask Trevor to add to this in terms of predator-prey relations—is that when you can't see it underwater, it's hard to notice exactly what's going on. It is a challenge. We are seeking more and more to manage fisheries with an ecosystem approach and with