Fisheries committee  No. I would just say that we would go back to some of the remarks that the minister made this morning when it came to aboriginal rights as well, especially the example he used for wildlife in the Arctic, which is constitutionally protected. There are certain constitutional rights, so to establish a no-take zone across the board wouldn't necessarily be congruent with that.

Fisheries committee  If I could add to this discussion, I would say that in the normal development of marine protected areas, we work with Natural Resources Canada and INAC, especially with regard to resource assessments. That's part of the process prior to the establishment of an area of interest.

Fisheries committee  It's a map that identified the bioregions of Canada, which is how we do our MPA work.

Fisheries committee  Some of our marine protected areas are right next to the coast and as part of the management plan there is a community monitoring and reporting. Examples of that would be Basin Head in Prince Edward Island or Musquash in New Brunswick. For MPAs that are further offshore, as Philippe said we integrate that into our conservation and protection program.

Fisheries committee  First of all, conservation is the number one priority. That informs how we proceed with our consultations. In areas where there is aboriginal fishing, either food, social, ceremonial, or commercial, we obviously need to consult with them in terms of infringing on their rights, but the justification would be that this is for conservation purposes.

Fisheries committee  Yes. I can start, and then we can move to Annette if she has more specific details on the process. But certainly, yes, the way we proceeded in identifying those areas was along the same lines as the one we use for establishing an MPA. Certainly it was through research that we did with the United States where we identified not only the importance of canyons but a lot of the coral and sponge concentrations that led to those particular designations.

Fisheries committee  I'll answer in English if that's all right. The difference, I think, is that with marine protected areas and the other measures that we use for protection, the objective is biodiversity, and not just specifically that particular fish stock in question. So, yes, we would use measures to protect the health of the fish stock, but marine protected areas writ large are intended to protect the aquarium, if you will.

Fisheries committee  The plans largely have to do with the development of marine protected area networks, so that we begin to understand not just why this particular area is interesting but also its relationship with the other areas in the same ecosystem. When the network plans come out, then we'll be able to say we understand that all of these areas are ecologically linked.

Fisheries committee  We have developed some information we could provide to the committee that describes not only the no-take areas in each of the MPAs but also what activities are permitted and not permitted. We could provide that to the clerk. For the most part, all of our MPAs have an area that is a core protection zone.

Fisheries committee  Yes, that is correct, in the sense that the criteria for other measures that we described in the presentation are being applied to each of the existing areas. What we're determining is whether they meet the criteria or not, and those that do, we would count towards the target.

Fisheries committee  Of another measure.

Fisheries committee  The Shediac Valley is an important area for groundfish in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It was identified as an area of interest quite some time ago. It does not necessarily mean that every area of interest is going to proceed to becoming a marine protected area. Another example is the Race Rocks area of interest off British Columbia.

Fisheries committee  That's right. When we talk about compatible activities, one of the things we look at is the nature of the activity that takes place. There are examples in other protected areas where we would allow a passive technology such as a lobster trap or a crab pot, because it doesn't really affect the ocean bottom.

Fisheries committee  Some examples would be the Gully off eastern Nova Scotia. Another example would be the Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte sponge reefs. They are examples of where we've restricted fishing in the core area.

Fisheries committee  It is a concept that we have been following not only in Australia but also in New Zealand, where the term that's become common is to determine whether there is a spillover effect.