Look, if you think there's a bit of exasperation in my voice, well, there is. We spent $5 million on this report. We think it's an important report.
When Mr. Justice Hinkson came along and said that the 1987 agreement between the federal government and the province...transferring in effect constitutional authority over fisheries, I saw that agreement in 1987. I thought it exceeded the constitutional bounds. That agreement has changed everything. It has transferred most of the administration to the federal government, and some, I guess, in a way, with the provincial government.
Our recommendations were to the administration of aquaculture, but also the premier insisted that we give recommendations as to how to look after salmon and habitat on the west coast of Canada. Now that Hinkson has made his decision, this stuff has all sort of disappeared. We understand some work was going on with the federal government, but neither I nor any other member of this committee has been asked to meet with the federal government or anybody else as to how these recommendations should be implemented. All members of this committee ought to know this.
So if I'm a bit exasperated to find that the hour we thought we had may not work out, you can understand why.
The second thing I want to say is this. Dr. O'Riordan literally coordinated all of our scientific work, which is extraordinarily extensive. I just want everybody to understand this. We were the only place that ever established an independent science advisory committee on all these issues. It should have been done years and years and years ago. But we've done it, and yet this report seems to have just floated off into mid-air.
Now, as I say, what we did say is that if you do it right, you can have sustainable fish farms and wild fish, but there are a lot of steps you have to go through in order to do it right.
I watched for a few minutes Clare Backman and Ruth Salmon. Clare Backman has been one of the best people on the side of the industry that you could imagine, in terms of picking Marine Harvest, and finding ways to operate in such a way that your sea lice and other problems are minimized.
I'd better stop there. There are some other things you ought to also know, but you can ask us questions. I want Jon O'Riordan to say something about the science side of this thing.