Fisheries committee  That's correct, and I think the support needs to come right from the top, from Ottawa, and trickle down.

Fisheries committee  Thanks, Mr. Calkins. I think we all acknowledge that this is a delicate issue. First and foremost, we have to depend on the science. I think the science has proven that the pinniped population is having an extremely detrimental effect on all age classes of salmon here in the Pacific region.

Fisheries committee  Yes. Thank you, Mr. Morrissey. To my knowledge, for the last couple of years both Oregon and Washington have engaged in lion control, in particular, in a number of rivers throughout Washington and Oregon—particularly, I believe, in the Willamette and tributaries of the Columbia, where both California and Steller's sea lions have proven to be highly effective at utilizing dam structures and bottleneck areas to prey upon both the returning salmon that are coming back to spawn and the juveniles that are out-migrating as well.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Johns. I think it's important to note that the enthusiasm and the willingness and the science are all there. What is lacking, obviously, is adequate funding to support the variety and the multitude of projects that we all acknowledge need to be completed. The question is where the money comes from.

Fisheries committee  Mr. Johns, I think it's important to recognize the importance of first nations' traditional knowledge here. As they are the original stewards of these lands, I think any partnership is set up for failure if we don't rely heavily on the guidance, information and traditional ecological knowledge of first nations communities throughout the range of pacific salmon.

Fisheries committee  Thanks for that question, Mr. Hardie. I do want to preface my answer with the statement that much further study is needed of the European green crab. We're very much at the preliminary stages of understanding not only the species and how it interacts with our environment, but also what's causing this rapid proliferation, especially along the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Arnold. Yes, as a matter of fact we are. We have identified through our work as a society that European green crab is a significant threat—and not only to the wild salmon habitat. There is strong empirical evidence from both first nations and scientific monitoring organizations that they're actually preying upon juvenile salmon as they exit their natal rivers and spend time in nearshore eel grass habitat.

Fisheries committee  Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, and the esteemed members of the committee. My name is Captain Josh Temple, and I am the executive director of the Coastal Restoration Society, a B.C. based non-profit dedicated to supporting wild Pacific salmon in the environment that they live in.