Right. Thank you very much.
To answer your question about the U.K. report, I have not read it. If it came out recently, I have not read that one.
That said, again this falls into the category of extrapolating from one country to the next, extrapolating the types and genetics of fish from one country to the next, and extrapolating the activity of an Atlantic salmon louse from one country to the next. It's a common practice, which is problematic. I'm sorry; I can't comment further on the paper itself specifically.
On your other questions, ENGOs, environmental non-governmental organizations, are very useful groups. They hold everybody's feet to the fire. I'm thankful they're around. The improvements that have happened in the industry within the last 20 years are because there were good questions that needed scientific research and needed to be answered. However, we mentioned earlier there are collaborative ENGO groups that realize aquaculture is here to stay and it can be sustainable and it can be healthy. They're working closely with industry and the government to continue to improve that. Where I make the distinction is between ENGOs and activists. I hope that clarifies it.
There are some people out there who are simply very good at what they do, which is to continue to put sensationalized emotional information into the media. That's how they get support.
That is why people then, not unlike this committee or the people I have dinner parties, think there's a problem. The only access to information they have is what is reported in the media.
Again, I'm very thankful that you invited the province to this table to actually speak very openly to you about information that doesn't get out there. I think part of the reason it doesn't get out there is because if a government agency puts forth this type of information, it instantly looks like it's promoting the industry when in fact it's just corroborating and supporting the same information to citizens who tend to not believe industry, or business, or the government. If information is put forth with more energy, the worry is that it will look like it's the promotion of an industry.
I wrote down “extrapolation” because I think we have to be very careful. The activists like to say it's happening in Norway, and so it's going to happen here. They don't understand the depth of the biology and the epidemiology involved. All they want to do is take people's minds from a historically real problem in different countries and transport the problem to British Columbia in order to stop farming.
In my opinion, the reality in B.C. with sea lice is that it's very much under control. It's highly regulated. It's monitored on a weekly and monthly basis. The information is transparent. We receive it. The farming companies put it out there. There's transparency from the farms to provincial government employees, from the farms to DFO, and from the farms to credible researchers.