Fisheries committee  That was something that was really a request of the people who are using the program. I should also mention that we're coming to the end of the first couple of years of this program and are doing an assessment of it. Do we have the funding right, the types of projects right, and are all the eligibility requirements that Melinda just spoke to basically right, or are there adjustments needed?

Fisheries committee  Managing the recreational and commercial fisheries together, and figuring out how they connect, and what portion goes to which is a challenge. I would say it's been more of an issue on the west coast than on the east coast, generally. I would also say that we have more of a formal integration of our processes for providing advice to the minister and the department from stakeholders on the west coast than we do on the east coast.

Fisheries committee  We are greatly concerned about the situation of salmon in Quebec and in the Atlantic provinces. The minister has established the advisory committee. She has announced it, in any case. We are seeing reductions, particularly in the southern end of the range. I should point out again that it's the Province of Quebec that establishes the rules in Quebec.

Fisheries committee  I'm going to ask Melinda to speak to that. She's running the program.

Fisheries committee  I think a member made the point that last year when we saw the weather challenges that we had...it was late September, right? There was an understanding that people were possibly going to be out and fishing in very difficult conditions and we didn't want to have an incentive for people to do it.

Fisheries committee  I'll be happy to do that. What I can do is walk through a bit more of what Melinda was talking about, and the results that I think we spoke to previously I'll speak to again. They're the results that I think we have full results for, because we've done all the tabulations, etc. That was the first year of the program 2013-14.

Fisheries committee  I spoke a little about the important relationships that we've got with recreational and angling groups, and I mentioned a few of them. The hunting and angling panel's actually been one more important opportunity for us to connect with some of those groups. They are, for the most part, groups we've had ongoing relationships with.

Fisheries committee  There's far more time than any other fishery, but I'll have the specifics, and we would be happy to provide that.

Fisheries committee  I'll start on the first one and then I will ask Melinda to comment on what we do in terms of the recreational fisheries partnership program. The first question was: Is that really the sole source of funding? I'll make two points. One is, part of our program is to require partnerships.

Fisheries committee  The initial grant was $30 million. The moneys they get from the conservation stamp is about $1.2 million. It depends on how many people get the stamp per year. Then there is funding from the salmonid enhancement program. There is a similar program on the east coast with the Atlantic Salmon Conservation Foundation.

Fisheries committee  On tourism and fisheries, I can't tell you that I know of any formal relationship that we have with our colleagues at CTC. I think there is some opportunistic engagement but it's something that could probably be expanded. It's opportunistic because some of the people who work in our office used to work in the tourism office so they're connected.

Fisheries committee  Yes, that is very interesting.. Alain spoke about scientists. I'm going to give him the microphone again. What I can say is that on all of our fisheries—and I'm on the management side—we depend fundamentally on science. Our advice about how to manage, I would say, is a bigger challenge sometimes in the recreational fishery where it's hard to get good information about how much exactly was caught.

Fisheries committee  Aquatic invasive species seems to be the emerging issue in terms of fisheries protection. In terms of fisheries protection, there are five physical threats to fisheries: overfishing is managed through deciding who gets a licence, etc.; pollution is managed through section 36; water flow is managed through section 20 of the Fisheries Act; habitat is managed through section 35 of the Fisheries Act.

Fisheries committee  You can't import the aquatic invasive species under this piece into the country. Then there's the interesting issue of a species that happens to be native to the Prairies but not elsewhere. What do you do in those cases? That has been kind of interesting to develop because aquatic invasive species is to that watershed or to that ecosystem, so we've been working on that.

Fisheries committee  Commercial fishery continues to be a real focus for the department. There is no question that more value can come out of the recreational fisheries. Charter fishing is one thing we're certainly looking at and something on which we really look forward to the advice of this committee in your study, something that really is development.