Thank you, Mr. Lunney.
Let me assure you on that. I know there's an issue surrounding the base. Absolutely no decision has been taken on that. No decision will be taken on that until you're consulted. We look at all the factors involved, and the last thing we want to do is go moving bases, unless for some reason there's no other choice. But as I say, absolutely no decision has been taken on that and it certainly won't be done without your involvement.
In relation to the different groups and agencies, certainly we're assessing the applications for funding for a number of them that do a tremendous amount of work in helping us in the fishery.
One of the things, and it might be something to think about in your various regions, coming out of the summit.... I hate using that word, but that's what it was called. And to an extent it was, because--for the first time ever, I would suggest, certainly in our province--it brought together all the players. I went to the meeting mainly--and I even said it publicly--figuring I was going into one big bitching session, where you get everybody at the one table. It didn't happen. People parked their agendas at the door, and when the going was tough and we needed to get people thinking about how to move forward, that's exactly what they did.
Sometimes we have so many involved at different levels. You get a lot of volunteer groups coming on the scene and they're looking for support. It sometimes can get to the point where it's a bit confusing. Every now and then you have to stop and coordinate efforts. That I think is what needs to be done, but it needs to be done at a local level. It's not a decision made by Ottawa to tell B.C. or to tell Nova Scotia or anybody else how they should run their affairs. But we are the ones quite often left with the responsibility of decision-making and funding, whatever. When we do it collectively and work together, it just makes so much more sense. When you do sit around the table, it's amazing what comes out of that.
We certainly will look forward to working with them, certainly in relation to B.C. more than anywhere else, on our oceans action plan, which involves so many of the groups and agencies out there and the volunteers who are working with us, to achieve the type of protection and advancement that we need in relation to habitat and the preservation of our stocks. There are a lot of good things happening. We usually hear the bad, but for every bad story we hear, there are several good ones. The good people are working on it, and they haven't time to complain.