In your testimony—and I read it fairly carefully—there was a lot of talk about the effect on wild salmon, something that's near and dear to my heart as a very avid fly fisherman. You specifically said that off the B.C. coast was a very important salmonid area.
Aquaculture has being going on there since 1985. A report from DFO, that I happened to get by emailing the minister's office to get some information, says that in 2010, the Fraser River sockeye returns were 30 million, the best return since 1913. In 2011, that return was 4.5 million which is an average return for that cycle year. I was told that 2011 was a good year in general for all salmon species.
I certainly share your obvious valuing of wild salmon stocks, but I don't see anything in the information I've been given that shows a direct effect between aquaculture and wild salmon stocks. Indeed, the 2010 Fraser River sockeye run, which was the best in history, seems to belie that.
Can you comment on that?