Fisheries committee  I'll start on the decision on the recreational fishery, but I'll ask my colleagues to speak to the other issues that you raised.

Fisheries committee  It was a species of special concern under the Species at Risk Act as assessed by COSEWIC, and then there seemed to be very significant growth. It is a fishery that we don't have a lot of information on, and we made a decision last year for two years. Last year we increased the season and the amount of time you could fish, so we allowed for more fishing last year than we had in the previous year.

Fisheries committee  I hear you, and we've certainly heard from recreational fishers on it, but it was an expanded opportunity for fishing. There is not a lot of information about it. The issue about the relationship between striped bass and salmon is one that we are looking into. I'll ask Gérald to speak to that piece.

Fisheries committee  I'll start, and Gérald may want to add to it. It is one of the recommendations. The ministerial committee report asked us to take a look at that. Quebec has a system that largely does that. It's not inexpensive, it involves work with NGOs, and it is a complex system. In Newfoundland we have a river classification system, which is not river-to-river management, but it is not too dissimilar.

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much, Gérald. I'll be very quick on the last couple of slides. Slide 18, I already spoke to this, the economic importance of this. The department gets how important this is to Atlantic Canadians. It really is a major part of the economy, a major part of people's livelihoods, and important to the culture, so we don't lightly put restrictions on when we do put restrictions on.

Fisheries committee  There'll be two of us. I'll make some very brief remarks and then we have the presentation. It is being circulated.

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much for the invitation. We really do appreciate being here with the committee. I'll start with introductions. My name is Kevin Stringer, assistant deputy minister for ecosystems and fisheries management, so on the management side. I have with me Trevor Swerdfager, the assistant deputy minister for ecosystem science, so the ADM science.

Environment committee  I'm going to ask Jeff to speak to the specifics. I would just say we're talking about this. We need to move forward on marine protected areas and on different types of protections. Human activities are taking place out in these areas. We do work closely with fisheries groups and we also work with other industries.

Environment committee  Let me start by saying, just building on that galvanized.... On setting these targets of 5% and 10%, I would say the 10% is going to be easier to achieve than the 5% by next year. Our longer-term objective is those 13 bioregions and to establish MPA networks in those 13 bioregions that achieve a number of objectives: that they're connected; that they're related; that they're replicated; and that we have a different set, a broad set, of protections in those areas.

Environment committee  Let me just add, one of the interesting results, I would say, or consequences of having the formal mandate on the marine side of 5% and 10% is it's galvanized people. It's galvanized my department. It enabled us to go forward with the budget and say, folks, if we're going to do this, we absolutely have to have a reinvestment.

Environment committee  From November 4 to November 5, I would say, when we saw the mandate letter. It really was when we saw that, and it's all in the public domain. We all got it in our mandate letters. We connected in November. We connected with environmental groups and brought them together as a group in early December.

Environment committee  I am happy to respond to that one from the marine side. One of the reasons we are still in the game in terms of getting from 1% to 5% by next year, and 10% by 2020, is the amount of science we have done. Most of the investment in the oceans program is largely about identifying where the ecologically and biologically significant areas are, where the corals and sponges are, and where the areas that need protecting for various life processes of species are.

Environment committee  Thank you very much. My name is Kevin Stringer. I'm the assistant deputy minister for Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Fisheries and Oceans. Thank you very much for the invitation today. You've heard from my Environment and Climate Change colleague on the broader approach to protection, as well as on the work that department is doing.

Fisheries committee  It's for all major projects in the country.

Fisheries committee  There are a lot. The first point I would make is the one that you just made: we're not alone on this. Parks Canada is a major partner on this. In fact, of the 1% that is protected now, Parks is about half and we're about half. Then there a lot of smaller players. There's also Environment Canada, with migratory bird sanctuaries and those types of things, including other wildlife areas that are in the oceans.