Fisheries committee  Yes. I don't know what portion is the percentage of the department.... I'll say two things. One is that the new B.C. program that we established is $8.3 million and 55 FTEs. That was what was new, and I'd say that this doubled what we had going on in the department. We have more responsibility now in British Columbia, with the court decision and our taking responsibility.

Fisheries committee  Okay. Generally, when these things are developed, there are three phases. When I refer to new technologies for commercial use, there are three phases. The first phase is getting the idea and doing the research to understand what the possibilities are, and coming up with ideas about what might work.

Fisheries committee  My view is that's not unreasonable as something that you might foresee. Let's again use the example of carbon capture and storage, which is one of those things where the number of countries involved had to be large enough for somebody to start going in that direction, because if one went in that direction, the others would face a disadvantage.

Fisheries committee  Part of what we do is to see what research is being done elsewhere. In fact, if you look at our CSA session a couple of years ago, which Jay can speak to, it was largely a review of research that's being done elsewhere. But it is something that we're interested in. We do have a study that's looking at different types of environmental analyses, including this type, but we have not sponsored something on a life-cycle approach with respect to closed containment.

Fisheries committee  I'll say a couple of things on this. You've seen the minister's letter announcing that we are doing further testing—and we can speak to that if you wish. In terms of the potential effect of closed containment, I would say two things. First, it obviously has an effect on distancing the aquaculture-based fish from the broader environment.

Fisheries committee  I've heard that stat but haven't seen it, so I can't comment on whether it would be accurate or not. But we can took a look at it and I'll be happy to get back to you on our views with respect to that. Regarding closed containment, intuitively you would think that if there's not the interactions with the wild fish in the outside environment, then there's less likely to be that effect on wild fish.

Fisheries committee  Again, I'll start. An area of work that's been identified as useful to do is to have a life-cycle analysis of environmental impacts of open-net pen and closed containment systems. It may be a bit like comparing apples and oranges, but when you're talking about a land-based system, the issue of waste management is a challenge.

Fisheries committee  Let me start, while giving my colleague Alistair fair warning that I'm going to ask him to talk on some of the specifics. I'll start with some sensitivities and assumptions. You talked about what could affect economic viability. We made a number of assumptions. We pointed this out in the executive summary, and the conclusion, and the body of the paper.

Fisheries committee  Thank you very much. The slide deck was actually presented on Tuesday by my colleagues. We have it today by way of background. I thought I would say a few words so that we don't start just by asking for your comments and questions. I will introduce my colleagues and say a couple of words to follow up from that slide deck.

Fisheries committee  I think it's fair to point out that five years ago, we started to invest in more monitoring. With respect to our own policies, we weren't certain if we were able to meet our requirements. But the monitoring has been more in the area of compliance, as opposed to effectiveness, and we're starting to look at effectiveness monitoring.

Fisheries committee  I might add that a number of international agreements speak to different types of numbers. One of them said that we were going to have 12 in place by 2012, one spoke of 10%, and one spoke of MPA networks. What we can say is that there has been an exercise to try to bring together all of the different jurisdictions that are protecting different parts of the ocean and the Great Lakes.

Environment committee  As I said, part of that is still before the courts, specifically the relationship between the Fisheries Act and the Species at Risk Act, and the application, so I really can't speak to that. I can tell you that we have contemplated significantly the relationship between the Fisheries Act and the Species at Risk Act.

Environment committee  On the aquatic side, some of this stuff is still before the courts, so I have to be very careful about what comments I make, particularly about the Fisheries Act piece of it. Three or four decisions have come down that have provided direction that our department and the others are reflecting on, partly around best available information.

Environment committee  I would note as well that those recovery strategies and the action plans all include further work that should be done. They commit us and they commit others to do this science piece, that policy piece, this program piece, and in the meantime we get a new batch every year of species to start the process.

Environment committee  They're issues that public servants are struggling with as well. We have an example that our colleague from Parks spoke to, about trying to take an ecosystem approach. We have a couple in Fisheries, where we've tried to do it and lumped together species into one recovery plan, one recovery strategy for both.