In terms of the B.C. licensing system, when limited licensing was originally brought into the salmon fishery in 1969, the minister at the time advised the members of the Fisheries Association of British Columbia, which were processing companies and which at that time owned 13.2% of all the salmon vessels, that when they went to limited licensing, they were going to be kept at that level. In fact, he said to them that when the fleet was reduced, they would have to divest themselves and keep below that 13.2% limit.
At the time, a salmon licence—an A licence—allowed the vessel to fish any gear type. Whether it was seine, gillnet, or troll, there was no limitation. A licence was a licence. That was before area and gear licensing. Those restrictions were never changed to say that it had to be specifically any gear or area.
Currently, as I indicated in our testimony, Canfisco owns 4% of all the licences. I'm not exactly sure what other processing companies own, but I think it's a very small number, and we would be nowhere near the 13.2% limit. It would be far below that at this point.