Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  The quota has continued to rise. For quite a long time we've had nowhere near the harvest, but the quota has never really been set at... I understand that's a big level.

Fisheries committee  Right now, we're at about 625 badged officers. We have a number of C and P officers who are not at the field level, if you will. But we're at about 625 or 640 at any given moment.

Fisheries committee  Not a lot. It's a little bit, but not a lot. It's been relatively steady over, I'd say, about 12 years.

Fisheries committee  Absolutely it is. I think part of this is that we wouldn't want to exaggerate the point at all. We're not trying to come forward to suggest that there are all kinds of problems and a litany of threats and so on, but absolutely, this is certainly a big feature in the officer safet

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  I'll offer one quick comment, and then perhaps my colleagues will chime in from a more operational perspective. I want to emphasize that at this point the 10-metre distance is one that was established through a process of negotiation in an out-of-court settlement. It's been in p

Fisheries committee  Thanks very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hello everyone. As you know, I am Trevor Swerdfager, Assistant Deputy Minister of Ecosystems and Fisheries Management—Operations. On behalf of our minister, the Honourable Gail Shea, I would like to thank the members of the

Fisheries committee  I'm just mindful of the time, because there's a bit of a long story around that one, but essentially, in a nutshell, the key thing there is that we have opportunities for the fishery in the Arctic context to expand. A key—not the key, but a key—limiting factor was the absence of

Fisheries committee  Just to stay within the context of the small craft harbours program, I think when you look at where it puts its feet on the ground, so to speak, it acknowledges the difference in the three oceans. Certainly a key element in prioritizing where investments are made through the prog

Fisheries committee  I think in terms of drawing conclusions to a predicted run of salmon, and then tying that back to a management regime, what we'll need to do is see if the runs in fact come along those ways, and so on.

Fisheries committee  But having said that, I think it's true that the environmental regime, the management regime in place for aquaculture in British Columbia, largely in the context of the Fisheries Act regulations that the government passed some time ago, do in fact put in place very strong environ

Fisheries committee  I think, first, to touch on the federal role, really there are three statutes that we use to establish marine protected areas, as you probably know.

Fisheries committee  Well, there will be a national—

Fisheries committee  The Oceans Act allows the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans to establish some areas, the Canada National Parks Act allows the Minister of the Environment to establish national marine conservation areas, and the Canada Wildlife Act allows the Minister of the Environment as well to