Fisheries committee  Thanks for having me.

Fisheries committee  Thank you.

Fisheries committee  I'm sorry. I misunderstood your question. I would say the B.C. industry has almost universally embraced this new development. The only real exceptions have been in the area of fresh-water aquaculture, but that's been more on questions as to how it would work, as opposed to not liking this, and a head-scratching type of thing.

Fisheries committee  In a purely speculative and hypothetical way, one could look at what might happen in New Brunswick. The number of permits in New Brunswick is roughly similar to the provincial regulatory perspective of both the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture and the New Brunswick Department of the Environment.

Fisheries committee  Well, it was surprising for me to learn that parts of the country don't universally embrace DFO. In the context of our consultations, some observers in the east have wondered whether having DFO in a similar role would be a good thing or a bad thing. We're very carefully avoiding that speculation.

Fisheries committee  I see.

Fisheries committee  I think the categorical statement made is around sea lice tolerance to SLICE. We're really certain on that one. Insofar as I was replying to Dr. Martin's question earlier to the effect of whether we have determined a link between sea lice and the salmon population, no, we have not.

Fisheries committee  In contrast to what I was describing in British Columbia, we have a situation in New Brunswick where we think there is tolerance to SLICE. We think there is tolerance to SLICE. We are still in the process of collecting more data from the industry. We're doing some analyses of the data.

Fisheries committee  I don't think that's what I said. We can provide the assurance.

Fisheries committee  The short answer to the second part of your question is that I believe we can provide you in writing that kind of advice or commentary. With apologies for sounding like a stovepipe bureaucrat, I can't tell you how the overall budgetary picture of the government works. I can tell you what we have done with the new submission, when the minister went to cabinet in the fall.

Fisheries committee  First of all, I think the key to keep in mind with respect to the department's interest in sea lice is that the department has a substantial investment in salmon biology, or salmon biologists as a better way of putting it, and so on, who are very concerned with the status of populations and have spent a lot of time looking at any potential threat to wild salmon populations.

Fisheries committee  Are you talking specifically about ISA in Chile?

Fisheries committee  With respect to your plea, the point is registered. Certainly when I was the regional director of the conservation branch of Environment Canada in B.C., we used to raise much the same point on a regular basis. An opportunity for closer collaboration certainly exists, and it is something we will be pursuing.

Fisheries committee  if you put a whole bunch of animals in a confined space, the risk of disease goes up. Essentially what happened in Chile was that they adopted a production strategy that is dramatically different from that anywhere in Canada. The concentration of farms is extremely dense. Farms were not put in place with any biosecurity measures.

Fisheries committee  With respect to outbreaks on farms as we speak, I think the first thing to keep in mind is that the provincial government has a fish health program in place now that features veterinarians going on site on a regular basis. By regular, I don't mean every nine months; it's quite regular—frequent is a better way to put it, I guess.