Mr. Speaker, the member's question highlights one of the comments I made earlier about the complexity of this issue. This is not a simple issue.
The member talked about logging and he is quite right. When logging goes right to the stream, it causes all kinds of problems with silt and allows other substances to get into the waterways, even if it is not the Fraser River. It might be a tributary off the left of the Fraser River and this causes all kinds of problems. I do not want to overly criticize the logging industry.
The agriculture industry does tremendous damage to some of our salmon and other marine species habitat. Nutrient enrichment is a very serious problem, which again is not only a federal issue, it is a provincial issue as well. A lot of work has been done now, but I want to state clearly that a lot more work has to be done in the whole issue of protecting marine habitat and in the area of science. It is a matter of balancing the two out.
To answer the member's question, the Pacific coast salmon enhancement fund was a major investment several years ago and that has done a lot to increase habitat, stocks and hatcheries. That involves the whole industry.
Perhaps one of the highlights of the member's question is the importance of this industry to British Columbia. After listening to the witnesses in British Columbia, I believe it is more than dollars and cents. When we talk about it as being $800 million, we are missing the point. The salmon take on almost a mythical element in British Columbia.
There has been increased enforcement on the Fraser River. One of the ways the minister is dealing with this is by allocating a certain number of enforcement officers. They perhaps will not be stationed in the Fraser River, but they will be there for a short time, the four or five weeks or wherever the salmon run.
I will reiterate that the response received yesterday was a good, well thought out, comprehensive response to this issue.