I found the testimony from Dr. Tim Gerberding on aquaculture to be very interesting. He's right, a distinction must be made between food aquaculture and conservation stock aquaculture.
In Quebec, there is no food aquaculture. It's a big problem in eastern Canada because it has a very significant impact on wild fish populations, not only salmon but also a host of other species. Therefore, we focus on the development of land-based closed containment commercial aquaculture.
In terms of conservation stocking, I think it's really important, again, to have structures that allow for decentralized decision-making, because the results are extremely variable from one place to another. The success factors are difficult to establish and are specific to each river. Sustainability factors to support a salmon population through conservation stocking are also specific to each river and are very difficult to maintain over time. We are really talking about habitat health and connectedness in time and space. We have to make sure that each salmon life cycle takes place in a suitable habitat.
Earlier, we talked about genetics. There are conservation stocking methods that mitigate the risk of genetic modification in a given population.
Regarding the main threat—