In terms of our relationship with the province, at the beginning of this process we expected that given the nature of the transition and the major change, the bureaucrats, in particular my counterparts, would be somewhat resistant. It's a big change. There is a lot of programming left, and so on.
We haven't encountered that at all. They have been absolutely fantastic. Our working relationship has been exceptionally good. The leadership from the province has been rock solid, from the minister down to the officer level, in terms of responding to the court decision.
When I appeared before you in March, there was still some uncertainty as to what the provincial role going forward would be with respect to shellfish and with respect to freshwater. I believe I told you at the time that I was a bit unsure as to how that would unfold. It was very clear that the province was leaving the field for finfish aquaculture and that it would move exclusively to the federal regime.
The province has taken the view that shellfish most properly belongs under the overall regime and that it should belong with the federal government as part of this transition. Similarly, when we started to work through issues around freshwater aquaculture, we reached the same conclusion together. The transition from provincial management to federal has been moving along very smoothly in that regard. We've had no real clashes or problems at the table with the province.
We are close to completing a memorandum of understanding with the province that lays out our respective responsibilities and how we will work together. It establishes a joint management committee, common criteria for decision-making, synchronized application processes, so that we are very much working together.
To return very briefly to your initial comment with respect to the role of the province, I can't emphasize enough the importance of the provincial government in aquaculture management in B.C. going forward. It properly controls the land base. The provincial government will determine where in British Columbia aquaculture will take place, and it will have full control over those decisions in terms of what part of the provincial land base gets used for aquaculture.