I'd prefer if he didn't comment any further. I don't want to try to participate in an economic discussion at that level. However, I believe that tourism is a wonderful industry for all of us in British Columbia, and not just on northern Vancouver Island. Overall, it's a wonderful industry.
I have, however, one little comment about it, and that is that it's seasonal. It's very seasonal in our area. We don't see many people from the outside on the northern half of Vancouver Island during the winter. During the late fall, it tapers off, and in the early spring it begins. There's a peak in July and August.
Neil touched on one particular group which is very active in the Broughton, and that's the people who run the very high-level lodges there at $1,000 a day for people to stay there, and that kind of thing. They have taken a very anti-aquaculture position, and I think it's very unfair of them. The people on the practical side of life have not criticized their ability to go out and catch fish, and I'm delighted that they're there doing their thing. They employ a very small number of young people from our communities—Port Hardy, Port McNeill, Alert Bay, and Campbell River, as examples—but not very many. They don't have a big effect. Once the end of August rolls around, they're gone, and we don't see them again until the beginning of June the following year.
So tourism is wonderful, it's great, and I love to see many tourists, but I'm also very much aware that we couldn't live on tourism alone. I did a little study years ago because I had my questions about tourism, and some information that was being bandied about regarding what a wonderful organization and industry it was. I think it's great, but it is not 12 months a year, and it has a very limited effect in the high season, and that's about the extent of it.
It's very unfortunate that the people who participate in it at the high-level lodges, the $1,000 a day lodges, have taken the position of questioning the continuation of fish farming and the way that it is. They even question the amount of fish that sports fishermen from Port McNeill or Port Hardy want to fish. They question that kind of activity. They have big money behind them, there's no question about that, but they're not a great help to the area.
As far as the rest of the community goes, I had our office call each of the businesses in Port McNeill a few years ago to ask how many employees they had at the height of the tourist season, and how many employees they had at the depth of the winter season when there were no tourists. The numbers came out that there were about 15% to 20% extra employees in the high-season months of June, July, August, and September. Beyond that, those people were gone, but the basic population of managers, mechanics, accountants, and other people working in the normal industries twelve months a year were still there in the middle of winter. But the drop in the overall population was around 15% to 20% of the people employed.
We can't kid ourselves into thinking that tourism is the be-all and end-all. It's great. It's a good industry, but it has its limitations. People shouldn't base all their decisions on the viability of tourism because of the potential that it has for having a negative effect on the industries that are year-round industries.