Fisheries committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'll introduce the officials who are with me today: Michaela Huard, ADM, policy; Dr. Wendy Watson-Wright, assistant deputy minister, science; Kevin Stringer, director general, fisheries resource management directorate; George Da Pont, Commissioner

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. In terms of the specific numbers around enforcement, I'll ask Mr. Hegge in a minute to respond to that. In terms of the enforcement on the inland waters and so on of Newfoundland and Labrador, we actually still do a fair amount of enforcement. We hav

Fisheries committee  On the ballast water, we have been involved, through the oceans action plan--both the last version and the most recent announcements--to get funding for Transport Canada to move forward with that. I might ask Wendy to talk to our role in providing the science in support of it.

Fisheries committee  Look what it did to me.

Fisheries committee  Sometimes it impacts on our stories.

Fisheries committee  I'll start and then I'll ask David to speak. I should tell you that David went to Newfoundland with carry-on luggage and he came back several days after his carry-on luggage ran out. There's a very key vote tonight by labour, and I gather the results will be out at ten o'clock.

Fisheries committee  I think you've hit the nail on the head in terms of what we should be doing. That's why we're trying to look at this ocean-to-plate approach and bring value to the fishery. There's no question that notwithstanding the challenges, the wild salmon fishery is kind of a derby-run f

Fisheries committee  That has really been the focus of the minister's ocean-to-plate approach. How the hell do we tie all this thing together, ensure that we get the resources to market at the best price for everybody, and take maximum advantage of the existing resources?

Fisheries committee  Thanks very much. I'll hand off to Wendy to answer that specific question, but I wouldn't mind picking up where we left off the last one. The minister has been pushing hard, working closely with his provincial colleagues to bring forward something called an aquaculture framework

Fisheries committee  Maybe I'll start and then ask Mr. Bevan to add to this. In terms of plant workers, I think Parliament has been discussing this issue, to some extent, and the federal government does have a study under way on older workers. I may be wrong, but I believe that study is due to be co

Fisheries committee  I think it's a fairly complex piece of work. We'll do it as soon as we can. David, do you have a sense of timing, since you're working on it?

Fisheries committee  It is the minister who must provide the list, and we intent to give him the best advice possible.

Fisheries committee  We'll do it as soon as we can, but obviously there are some real legal edges around all this stuff, and we have to be careful.

Fisheries committee  Mr. Chairman, the minister and the department are prepared to send the documents to the committee for the purpose of its travel or to make a presentation on the current situation.

Fisheries committee  We have all kinds of figures on small craft harbours. The figures are always somewhat difficult to establish. We estimate requiring $55 million per year to maintain and repair all small craft harbours. In 2006, the government increased the budget for small craft harbours by $11