No, there's not. We have a few groups that are using drift nets. But I want to explain something.
Drift-net fishing is what gillnetters do in the Fraser River. A gillnet boat has a net attached to it and it drifts down the river. That's called drift-net fishing. That's exactly what first nations do in a few locations. I don't think you mean to imply that gillnet drift-net fishing shouldn't occur as well on the Fraser below Mission. I think the issue is whether, where drift-net fishing occurs above the Mission bridge, it is properly regulated and enforced, and to what extent it should be allowed to increase. I think that's what the SCOFO committee raised in their 2005 report.
What we've done in 2006--and in 2005, following your report--is we put in a science review or a study. We wanted to ask the question: what is the better method for fishing--set net or drift net? What's interesting is that it's not clear which one is preferable. Drift-net fishing tends to occur more quickly, people tend to catch their catch more quickly, and as a consequence, they're not fishing as often as with set nets. The other thing that's interesting is that the bycatch ratio changes between set nets and drift nets. What we are discovering is that we need to do more science between these two different fishing types before determining what is the best method to fish.
The final point I wanted to make is that drift-net fishing can occur in only certain locations on the Fraser. The majority of first nations above Mission use set nets and will continue to do that because of the nature of the Fraser River itself. You can't actually drift. The river is moving through narrow canyons and other constrictions, and they have to use set nets, not drift nets. Drift-net fishing actually occurs in the lower part of the Fraser. For first nations the area that's of most interest is the area above Mission, and that is where we have the study.