Mr. Chair, the installation of intensive subtidal geoduck aquaculture is proposed for the herring spawning grounds in Lambert Channel which, according to Department of Fisheries and Oceans records, are the source of 38% of all the herring spawn that has ever occurred on the B.C. coast and would support the whole Strait of Georgia marine ecosystem.
Will the minister put the protection of the spawning habitat of this keystone species ahead of the installation of industrial aquaculture and save it from the inevitable cumulative damage that would follow?