Fisheries committee  The challenges have been mostly around some of the stuff we talked about earlier insofar as trust. I think we are encountering a high degree of skepticism—from all parts of the country, it would seem. Certainly, in terms of the perception that people have of what DFO will do, we're encountering it at all corners.

Fisheries committee  No. Our licence regime will be one that will issue decisions much more rapidly than that. We don't have a formal service standard in place that says there shall be a decision within a certain period of weeks or months or whatever. It will be x number of months. But our goal is to get the licence decision-making process substantially reduced from that timeframe.

Fisheries committee  With respect to the matter of fees, the department hasn't given up on the possibility that the fee structure will be ready in time for the regulation coming into force in December. It's our expectation that we'll be in a position to bring a fee proposal forward in due course and that it may in fact be ready to be imposed, if you will, as part of the going live in December.

Fisheries committee  Yes, they will. The licence conditions, in draft, will go out this week for public dialogue and so on. To go back to the question that Ms. Murray was posing earlier with respect to information management, our intent early in 2011 is to have something available via the website, so that when you run your mouse over Vancouver Island or Broughton Archipelago, or what have you, up would pop farm number one, two, three, four, five, and you'd be able to click on that and get the terms and conditions of the licence, the licence holder, the fish that are there, sea lice information, disease information, benthic layer stuff, all of that kind of thing.

Fisheries committee  The main product for controlling.... And just to make sure I was clear earlier in my other response, I'm not familiar with the particular circumstances you're talking about in Quebec. I'll go back and look, and we can get back to you on that, in terms of the pilot projects or the previous ones.

Fisheries committee  The active ingredient is something called emamectin benzoate. It's not considered toxic. It has been registered in the United States for a long time and recently here. Formerly, it's been in use in Canada for a while, but its formal, full registration only occurred seven or eight months ago or so.

Fisheries committee  Part of the environmental risk assessment that's done by PMRA when they determine whether or not to register a chemical turns around some of that issue. Essentially the risk assessments that have been done by PMRA with respect to Alphamax and Salmosan have concluded that if they're used according to the label, they don't pose an environmental risk in the context of their application, in this case in New Brunswick, and possibly in Newfoundland.

Fisheries committee  Yes, from the point of the way they do their work, it's an environmental risk assessment as opposed to a strict hazard. So you may be aware that one of the things the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is working on now is a new regulation under section 36 of the Fisheries Act.

Fisheries committee  No, I'm sorry, I misspoke. There will not be a data gap per se. I phrased my response poorly. Essentially, what we're trying to do is to build a brand-new information management system that will bring together the diversity of data, some of which you identified. There's a whole range of data and information on the federal side as well.

Fisheries committee  Sorry, the what of it?

Fisheries committee  You're certainly right in the first part of your comment: I wouldn't want to speculate on where it might go. The courts will go where the courts go. And as we noted earlier, certainly DFO is not seeking to expand the regime. The regime that is being put in place in British Columbia is a response to the circumstances in B.C.

Fisheries committee  Yes. Our hope and expectation is that many of the existing provincial employees will apply for the jobs as they become posted. I made some inquiries last week as to the status of those. We know there are a good number of folks who currently work for the provincial government and have applied for our positions.

Fisheries committee  Let me go to that first.

Fisheries committee  With respect to the benthic layer issues, as you are probably aware, the issues around benthic layer contamination or pollution are governed under the finfish aquaculture waste control regulation. You may be aware as well that prior to the court decision, the province was in the process of updating that regulation and the standards related to it.

Fisheries committee  Let me just pick those questions up as I go on. Are we ready to go? No. We will not have a data management information system in place on December 19.