Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Donnelly. Those two questions go together, to my mind. As far as the sport fishery is concerned, the recommendation last year by scientists in British Columbia was that there be a closing of sport fishing in very specific, well-defined areas in southern British C

Fisheries committee  Yes, certainly. The propeller wounds that we see on northern resident killer whales, as I mentioned, are consistent with medium-sized vessels. These could be vessels potentially engaged in whale-watching. They could be utility vessels. There's a lot of boat traffic in that area a

Fisheries committee  According to the Fisheries and Oceans marine mammal group on Vancouver Island, who are the keepers of this kind of information and have been doing wonderful studies on pinnipeds over the years, the harbour seal populations have rebounded now to something like historic levels thro

Fisheries committee  As I said in my introduction, I feel that we have to look at both short-term and longer-term solutions. In talking about rebuilding stocks, we're talking about those longer-term solutions. As Christianne mentioned, we have huge issues right now that create a great sense of urgen

Fisheries committee  I think both governments have put a great deal of effort and money into rebuilding chinook stocks. It's clear it's a very slow, long-term process. Early life history survival of chinook, once they get out of the rivers and into the ocean, is a critical period. Maintaining the qua

Fisheries committee  Yes. This certainly happens. The whales are smart animals and humans are smart animals who do lots of things—particularly young humans who imperil themselves—and approaching boats, or coming into proximity of boats, is certainly a risk. As I mentioned, we're seeing substantial ev

Fisheries committee  No, not specifically on the southern resident killer whale. Fortunately, in the inner water of their critical habitat as recognized both in the U.S. and Canadian waters, there are no seismic operations, which, like sonar, have a potential impact on the animals. There's no explo

Fisheries committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair. I'm a senior research scientist and director of the marine mammal research program at the Coastal Ocean Research Institute, which is part of the Ocean Wise Conservation Association, which also includes the Vancouver Aquarium. My responsibilities here i