As a hatchery manager with DFO, and now responsible for the hatchery for the Miramichi Salmon Association.... Our view on that hatchery was that it was our insurance policy. If something went wrong, we had a tool in our tool box to do something to help.
It was very clear, with the problems in the Bay of Fundy, that the traditional hatchery methods did not work. As the population shrinks, you can't go out and collect the brood stock and spawn them, because there are no brood stock anymore. What had to happen there, through Mactaquac and other hatcheries that DFO still had access to, was that they had to do gene-banking. There are very few fish left, when you get the little ones and grow them up to be adults, to get your eggs for stocking.
We need to move forward into newer technology, similar to what that was. Before we get to that point, we have to work out the technique to make this work when there are still fish left. It is innovative, and I hope we don't have to use it. I hope that the runs come back, but we need to solve this technology, which will work not only for us but around the Atlantic salmon world, to be able to restore fish stocks.