Mr. Chairman, I thank the hon. member for his question. Clearly he has been on the committee longer than I have. What can we do? We have to continue to raise the profile. Mr. Gray said:
We are pleased to note that this committee [Fisheries and Oceans] for the first time is holding hearings that specifically focus in on this serious issue.
That is one of the reasons I raised it in this debate. It was to focus in on it because sometimes it gets lost with all the other huge problems that are involved in the fishery of a country that has three oceans and really a fourth ocean of fresh water. It is a matter of focusing attention in this area.
As a matter of fact, a lot could be done and should be done on the issue of ballast. Mr. Schornack, the joint chair of the IJC, congratulated the Shipping Federation of Canada for being the first to adopt voluntary ballast exchange guidelines in 1989. We are told that the American regulations are based on the Canadian voluntary exchange guidelines.
What can we do? We can raise the issue, continue to give it a high profile, ring the alarm bells, and ask the various departments to deal with this issue in a serious way.