Fisheries committee  One thing that Bill C-55 should help with is to ensure that we have the time. You're identifying that we have enough information to say that an area is going to be protected; then we freeze the footprint, which basically means fishing that was going on before and other activities that were going on before can continue, but no new activities.

Fisheries committee  Do you want to answer that, Jeff?

Fisheries committee  I would add to this that unlike the case with oil and gas where, if you can't get your oil and gas where you have the lease, that's it, you can get your fish elsewhere. We're saying that this area is a no-go area for this type of fishery. That doesn't mean you can't go elsewhere and catch fish elsewhere.

Fisheries committee  I don't know. We heard it last week from this committee. We've heard it this week from this committee. We need to reflect on that. We need to make sure we're fully engaged. You'll see when we table, that we've done a lot of engagement, but we need to reflect on that and make sure we are.

Fisheries committee  Our view is that peer review assessment of the project needs to be done, and how much of the project can be done before the full peer review assessment is something about which we're in active discussions with them. It is an important initiative and one that we're taking seriously and working closely with them on.

Fisheries committee  The issue is crowding out of the wild species, effectively changing the genetic nature, over time, of that species. It's not quite the same.

Fisheries committee  It's the impact of not knowing what they're actually going to do at the time and ensuring that the wild stock we have is protected. That said, this is one conservation tool that has been identified as a potential way forward. We have approved a piece of this initiative, as I understand it, or at least we're looking at that, but it is an important thing.

Fisheries committee  I don't think—and I'll look at Jeff for this—that we know of any that have been specifically detrimentally impacted. One thing we would point out is that the MPAs are very focused in terms of the area we're protecting, and the total allowable catch that anybody is allowed to catch is not impacted by the MPA.

Fisheries committee  Enforcement really is a key to making this effective. If we have announced measures and don't actually enforce, they just don't have the same effect. We have stepped up our enforcement in the last while on MPAs. I think the most recent statistics I saw were 1,500 hours of enforcement in MPAs this year so far as against fewer than 1,000 overall last year.

Fisheries committee  I have forgotten what CAST stands for. It's Atlantic Salmon....

Fisheries committee  In an initiative that started two or three years ago with a number of stakeholders coming together on six projects—DFO has supported a number of them—there has been one that has been a challenge. It's about adult rearing. The idea is to grow fish, basically, in a hatchery and then release them as adults into the river.

Fisheries committee  It doesn't necessarily enhance the ability to maintain ecological integrity. What an MPA does is look at—

Fisheries committee  Those are many of the things that have been raised concerning why we should be looking at minimum standards. That is exactly what the minister is going to be asking the panel to take a look at. It would be a little early for me to comment on whether they should or shouldn't be included.

Fisheries committee  It could be allowed at present, and in some areas it is. The idea at the moment is that you look at what needs protection. We've identified that a certain habitat or a certain species needs protection, so we're going to apply that identification in an MPA. We look at the potential impacts on those things, and that is how we apply the protection.

Fisheries committee  I think we're talking about St. Anns Bank in particular.