I don't believe there is any negative effect. The flow of fish up and down will continue to be up and down over the years. Last year we saw one of the biggest runs of fish ever in the Fraser River, fish that were not expected there, and I'm sure there were lots of so-called environmentalists worried about the fact that we had a huge return on the Fraser River.
Other areas of the coast are managing to hold their own fairly steadily. The increasing capability of the fishing industry has been very surprising to me. The mechanization that has been developed in seine boats means that seine boats are down to sometimes just a couple of hours of fishing in an opening. They're no longer as labour-intensive as they used to be now that so much mechanical improvement is available to them in handling their fishing challenge.
There's another aspect too, one that I'm only peripherally aware of, and that is the effect of the Alaskan salmon on our fish and the amount of fish that are actually swimming back and forth through the same area. There are Japanese fish. There are Chinese fish. There are Russian fish. There are American fish. There are the semi-wild fish that are produced by the Alaskans, where they have their own particular form of fish ranching and are fairly capable of maintaining a big industry in Alaska. But all those fish are eating in the same area. They're on the same timetable, if you like. Obviously there will be fluctuations in the way the fish survive, whether they're in a food area or not in a food area. There are also factory ships working on the ocean that have an effect on runs. I believe some of them are probably taking a lot of our salmon on their way home.
It's a very complicated business. I'm not a technician. I'm not a scientist. I'm just a practical person who tries his very best to understand the ebb and flow of the whole argument. Unfortunately, I see people motivated for the wrong reasons—whatever those reasons may be—interfering with the normal process of a good industry that has tons of potential for the people of coastal British Columbia.