Thanks very much.
There are a number of questions within your question, so I will talk briefly about how the department approaches the management of aquaculture generally and in Nova Scotia in particular.
I think the first and the most overriding principle of our approach is that we're fundamentally committed to the protection of marine ecosystems and all the species within them. Certainly that's our abiding concern, whether it's in Nova Scotia or British Columbia or anywhere else in the country. We're very confident that aquaculture can be conducted in open net pen structures in a manner that is consistent with that objective.
That's not to say that it's a non-impact-oriented industry. It clearly needs to be regulated. It needs to be managed very closely and effectively. As you probably know, jurisdiction for aquaculture is shared in our country, particularly in Nova Scotia. There's a different regime in place in British Columbia, which we can talk about if one wishes. But in Nova Scotia the jurisdiction for the management of aquaculture is shared between the federal and provincial governments. The predominant element or the preponderance of the regulatory regime is provincial in Nova Scotia.
The province issues leases to individual farm operators that allow them to secure a particular plot, if you will, of the ocean. The first component of the regulatory regime is to determine where in the province aquaculture will be authorized. In addition to a lease, an operator requires a licence from the province, which is extremely detailed in nature. A whole series of environmental provisions and requirements must be obeyed by the operator.
We have worked with all provinces, including Nova Scotia, with respect to the content of some of those licence provisions: how they're structured, what the regulatory tools are, what the standards to be met are, etc.
At the same time, the federal government does have a role, both in terms of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, but more broadly within the Department of Transport and the Navigable Waters Protection Act. Other departments are involved as well; to some degree, Environment Canada is a player in the regulation of the aquaculture industry. Certainly from our perspective, we participate in the environmental assessments of all sites, in the sense of contributing science to the decision-making in both the provincial context and federally, and we work quite closely with the province to make sure that all sites that are considered are, at least from our vantage point, put in places that don't cause significant threat, not just to wild salmon, but to any wild species.
Obviously this is a topic that would require further discussion if we wanted to get into it in huge detail, but from our perspective, the strategy that the Government of Nova Scotia is advancing for that province for aquaculture is one that is prudent and is moving forward in due course. But it's not a rapid development approach; it's one that we're quite comfortable with and that we have worked with them on. We're confident that the regulatory regimes that both the province and ourselves manage are more than sufficient to effectively protect the ecosystems involved and to go forward with this sustainable industry.