Fisheries committee  I think it's really important to point out that the allocation policy is species specific. When you look at chinook or coho, for example, the recreational sector has a priority access to those fish, compared with the commercial sector. That's not speaking about the food, social, and ceremonial, which comes off the top.

Fisheries committee  Last August, the minister provided an update on the status of the Cohen recommendations and in fact created a tracker, a document that showed our response. It's available on the website. It's quite a nice little infographic and easy to read. The intention is to continue to update that tracker document.

Fisheries committee  B.C. has a very strong regulatory system in place to ensure the sustainable management of salmon farming on the coast. Within that regulatory framework, we have of course a number of policies and guidelines. An important one that I can highlight to you is the siting guidelines, basically a document that describes how to decide where to place a fish farm.

Fisheries committee  Yes, we do. I'm sorry I wasn't able to run them off the top of my head, but I can certainly provide those numbers to you, absolutely.

Fisheries committee  The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has a very long history of working collaboratively with first nations and funding activities. We have annual agreements whereby first nations and the department work together on collecting data—for example, stock assessment information and catch monitoring information.

Fisheries committee  I think it's important to explain that, the way the wild salmon policy is created, you have your overall policy with goals and objectives and strategies, and then you have actions and the implementation piece. The substance of the policy is sound; there is no need to change it.

Fisheries committee  I can speak specifically to salmon. Perhaps Sylvie will speak more generally to your question about ISMPs. There is a salmon integrated fisheries management plan. In fact there are a number of them that have been completed every year for a long time. That is a very thorough process whereby we work with our partners to develop and then implement the plan.

Fisheries committee  No, it's not me. I'm the regional director general. The suggestion had been that we would create an additional associate regional director general focused entirely on the wild salmon policy.

Fisheries committee  We do not intend to create a new position to do it, but we have responded in a way that we think meets the intent of that recommendation, which I can explain, if you like.

Fisheries committee  In fact, I think the response that we've provided is better than what had been suggested.

Fisheries committee  First of all, I want to make the point that we didn't wait for implementation. We have been implementing. Was the question with regard to the cost for Cohen or for wild salmon policy?

Fisheries committee  That's a hard question to answer specifically. There's no end to the amount of work you could do in habitat monitoring or in stock assessment information. We could have more fishery officers on the ground. Concerning our response to the wild salmon policy, the consultation process we're going through right now really is about engaging with our partners, indigenous groups, to come up with a plan that says: this is what DFO has before us, and this is our program capability; how can we work with others to fully implement it?

Fisheries committee  Is the question about determining the decline?

Fisheries committee  The report has a graph that illustrates your point exactly, showing the change from the early 1900s to now. The question of the causes for the decline is exactly what we've been talking about: what those causes are and how we address them. Are we getting any closer to understanding it?

Fisheries committee  There are factors that we can point to. One element we particularly care about these days is the impacts of climate change as it affects temperature and flows in the river. You have marine issues around the types of feed available for the salmon. You also have the impacts on the rivers as the salmon return.