Fisheries committee  I'm going to start this, and I'm going to ask my colleagues to think about the full answer to the question of how long it takes to get a demonstration project in place. The idea, as I said, is that the initial research is done, and then there are the demonstration projects. As I understand it, with the Namgis demonstration, for example, it would take a number of years before you actually proved it out.

Fisheries committee  I would just add that we have invested in these demonstration projects. Industry has done the same kind of analysis that we've done, and it's not economically viable at the moment. They're not going to invest in it because they're going to do better with the open-net pen. The only way you're going to be able to test these things....

Fisheries committee  It's certainly something we're watching carefully. The issue of certification of aquaculture is definitely an emerging issue we are Inaudible--Editor] on. I'll ask Alistair to make any comment he wishes to on Canadian technology versus others'.

Fisheries committee  Thank you. I'll start, though Alistair knows the answer to this question. On the issue of density, if you look at the size of the open-net pen facilities currently in operation, it's really not feasible, certainly from an economic perspective, but even from the perspective of covering a football field, to have those types of facilities on land.

Fisheries committee  Jay was going to add something to this.

Fisheries committee  Okay, so that's the order of magnitude. It has become a significant file in the department.

Fisheries committee  I wouldn't presume to do so. What I can say is that aquaculture worldwide now produces approximately 50% of the world's fish resources. So in terms of where the world's protein is going to come from in the future, we do want to see the wild fishery grow and intend to continue to work to see stocks rebuild and such, but the growth in the world is in aquaculture.

Fisheries committee  That's a very good question, and I'm going to answer the last part, which is on eco-certification. I'll ask Alistair to answer the first part on Canadian technology versus others'. Eco-certification has been a significant issue with us for 10 years in the wild fishery. In Canada we have, I think, 22 fisheries that are certified.

Fisheries committee  It is in a challenge, both in the wild fishery and in aquaculture. What I can say, though, is that these certification systems are based on FAO standards. The idea is that there's a world standard, which governments work on. And we're one out of the 170 governments, or whatever the number is.

Fisheries committee  You want to be near a power grid.

Fisheries committee  So when you're talking about Manitoba versus B.C., yes.

Fisheries committee  It can be done anywhere. It does require—

Fisheries committee  You want to be near a water source.

Fisheries committee  Right now, the aquaculture industry is a rural industry in Canada on both coasts and inland areas. It's providing significant jobs in rural communities. I gave the statistics earlier: there are 6,000 jobs in B.C., and 5,000 on the east coast. As you know, they're not easy to replace.

Fisheries committee  As do I.