Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member for that extremely important question. It is true that from fishing activity, as well as commercial vessels referred to by the hon. member for Red Deer a short time ago, there is an enormous risk to our bird and marine populations on the coasts of eastern and western Canada.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans in combination with the Department of Transport and my own department will be taking every step we can to recover the maximum amount of fuel.
However I must warn all hon. members that recovery of spilled fuel at sea is an extremely difficult process easily hampered by wind and waves. The result is that we cannot--