Fisheries committee  I will clarify that I did not say there should be a ban. I said that we need to really figure out the risks of the marine environment to wild Atlantic salmon. We need to adequately regulate and mitigate those risks and avoid them wherever possible, and we really need to look at much better regulatory systems nation-wide for farmed salmon.

Fisheries committee  Thank you.

Fisheries committee  Hello.

Fisheries committee  One of things that I think is very important, which may vary on a river-by-river basis, is to at least have an estimate of the relative mortalities from different things that we know impact wild Atlantic salmon. In the Miramichi, the striped bass may be the issue. In other rivers there might be other issues.

Fisheries committee  Sorry about that. I didn't know what happened.

Fisheries committee  I think one of the most effective solutions would be to ensure that there's not siting of open net-pen farms within a scientifically determined distance from salmon-bearing rivers. There's been some research on that. There's a paper by Ford et al. from about six years ago that points out that, around the world, when you put open net-pen salmon farms next to salmon-bearing rivers, you get a 50% additional mortality rate.

Fisheries committee  We do. We support closed containment for a number of reasons. One is that it means that the externalities to the marine environment writ large are eliminated. The closed containment industry has to, in their business model, pay for all the externalities. Also, there's been some very successful closed containment both on the west coast and the east coast.

Fisheries committee  I am less familiar with the in-river management plan. I think the other witnesses speaking here today are much more familiar with that, because our organization is not an angling or a restoration organization. I would say, from my experience, that sometimes the elephant in the room does not get dealt with—and that elephant would be the aquaculture industry.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for inviting me here today. We're excited that you are studying the subject of wild Atlantic salmon. The Ecology Action Centre was founded in 1971, and is Atlantic Canada's oldest and largest community environmental organization. Our marine program began in 1995, and we continue to work towards the conservation of fish stocks with annual fisheries, and protection of fish habitat, largely in a marine environment.

Environment committee  That Colin Stewart Forest Forum was bringing together conservation groups and forestry companies to identify ecologically sensitive lands, which were then set aside and/or purchased by the province through their 12% goal in terrestrial protection. That 12% goal is met in three ways.

Environment committee  I would get back to the target and timeline, and I would look at a bit of a risk assessment. I don't think you can do one or the other; I think you need to do both. As well, I think we need to take into consideration how we are working now, particularly from the marine perspective.

Environment committee  Let's put it in closed containment. We know that works. We know it's difficult. The profit margins aren't 50%; they're probably 5% to 30%. In Nova Scotia, we have some of the world's leading closed containment operations. In Debert at Millbrook First Nation they're doing an excellent job of farming Arctic char.

Environment committee  In many cases, we have been doing some good things. I think we have to be careful not to create a bucket, fill it, and then assume that's all we need. We need to be much more strategic. I think we are missing targets and timelines. I can say that for fisheries in particular we haven't had targets or timelines for rebuilding our fish stocks.

Environment committee  Sure. The active and safe routes to school program has been in Nova Scotia for about ten years. It is a cross-Canada—actually across North America—program. The idea is to get children to start walking and biking to school. It's celebrated by an International Walk To School Day, there's International Walk To School Week, and there's Take the Roof Off Winter.

Environment committee  It's a safe quarter, exactly. They're walking through the woods, which is a good thing to do, and also getting exercise on their way to school. We used to do that. We always hear “I used to walk to school”. We've come a long way from that. I think it's really important to get kids active and outside.