Fisheries committee  Do you mean our harbour authorities. Yes, we do, of course. We have 750 core fishing harbours for which revenues from the harbour have been turned over to harbour authorities, who do a fantastic job maintaining the safety and accessibility of the harbours.

Fisheries committee  I think you're referring to our corporate risk profile. Marty, if you can look for that on page 8, I'll start off. As part of a broader suite of initiatives whereby we, like all other government departments, have looked over the last four or five years at efficiencies, one of the small things we did was ask our harbour authorities, rather than to meet annually, to meet every two years.

Fisheries committee  I believe that DFO is possibly the second biggest land and building owner department in government. We actually have quite a big footprint. In terms of anticipating risk, we often cite our infrastructure as an area that we believe we need to pay special attention to. Small craft harbours is a big part of this, obviously, given their number, but I would include our federal buildings and labs, and the coast guard has facilities and warehouses across the country as well.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Chair. I'll start us off, and I'm sure Kevin might want to add a few details. To start with the beginning of the question, the A-base level of the program is set at about $75 million, but I think once in the past five or six years have we ever spent to that level.

Fisheries committee  I'd be happy to. Thank you for the question. Minister Shea did sign this MOU last year. It had been under negotiation with the First Nations Leadership Council for a period of time. It does commit the minister and the department to a minimum of two meetings a year. I believe Minister Shea has had at least one, and I think maybe two meetings with the leadership council so far.

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. The changes to the fisheries protection and pollution prevention provisions in the Fisheries Act and the subsequent section 36 designation order, which was made public last spring, we believe will focus and clarify federal efforts in managing threats to fish and fish habitat.

Fisheries committee  Good morning, and thank you. Mr. Chair, I would like to start by thanking you and the members of the committee for inviting us to appear before you this morning. It is always a pleasure to answer questions about the important work that Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Canadian Coast Guard dofor our three oceans and in Canadian communities.

Fisheries committee  I'd be happy to. I'm going to turn to Mr. Gillis to do that.

Fisheries committee  I'd like to begin, Mr. Chair, and I'll ask Kevin to weigh in. You'll understand that it's always a little difficult for a deputy or for an assistant deputy to talk in public about advice given to a minister, because traditionally that remains a private affair. But in this case, as we all know, the advice memo was part of an affidavit, and part of it is public.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  If I could, Mr. Chair, I would like to make one correction to an answer to an earlier question on the number of recommendations related to Justice Cohen's report. I believe I said 12 or a dozen were being followed. I actually misread my notes. It's seven, but I'm still happy to provide them to the committee.

Fisheries committee  We defined, if I could, just recreational fisheries as fish that are harvested under the authority of a licence for personal use or sport. So that takes us into the world of anything that is regulated by provincial governments, for example. But as I say, this and the aboriginal fishery definition are meant to give us guidance on how to apply paragraph 35(2)(b).

Fisheries committee  Perhaps I can start it off, and I'll look to others to....

Fisheries committee  I hope I got all of these. With respect to the FFMC, I wasn't able to watch any of the convention myself, but the FFMC continues as a going concern. It's had its corporate plan, as it always must, approved by the Minister of Finance, and we're expecting revisions for 2014-15 soon.

Fisheries committee  On the justice issue, we've had a group of I believe eight or nine lawyers in our Pacific region office for the better part of a decade. It was one of those things that was started as a pilot, and you can see why it would have been attractive. I think it might have been there for a dozen years or so.