Mr. Chair, first of all, I support exploring a mark-selective fishery. I understand how important the public fishery is to B.C.'s economy. A number of small businesses, whether tour guides or lodges, have suffered recently and not only due to the loss of tourism this year, but also due to the loss of the wild salmon. The cascading implications have not just been on them, but on first nations commercial harvesters and so many more.
A mark-selective fishery is one possible option that can be explored in terms of fish retention while reducing impacts to wild stocks. Indeed, there is no smoking gun when it comes to the salmon returns and making sure that we are seeing it last for years to come.
I am glad to say that my department is currently reviewing information to support the decision-making on potential expansion of the mark-selective fishery. There are vital concerns that need to be thoroughly understood, though. For instance, the mark-selective fisheries will still encounter wild Chinook. Release mortalities of stock concern needs to be accounted for to ensure that the mark-selective fisheries do not adversely impact the wild stocks.
I have been speaking with sports fishers in B.C., as well as environmental organizations. I have heard how a mark-selective fishery can offer potential benefits. I fully want to make sure that we continue to speak to these organizations to fully understand the issues of the potential, but we also need to know what we need to do to mitigate the concerns that we are also hearing.
To do this work, DFO is going to undertake additional consultations to further inform our decision-making and we will do everything we can to work with these communities to address the concerns that we are hearing.