Fisheries committee  I'd say the conflict would go down to the duality in the mandate of DFO, which is to obviously look after wild fish and fisheries, but also to regulate and promote the aquaculture industry. There will be cases where those things come head to head, and that is where the conflict c

Fisheries committee  I'd like to point out that those risk assessments were only carried out for one species of salmon, and we expect there to be differences between the species. They were only carried out for one population, Fraser River sockeye. I was in a ministerial round table two days ago, wher

Fisheries committee  Yes. I'd like to reflect on the last comment as well, and just say that a causal relationship isn't required to make a precautionary decision. What you asked is true. Internationally, there are fisheries science review processes that incorporate independent science advice in the

Fisheries committee  I'd summarize the science and say that we know that pathogens like PRV and Tenacibaculum are very common on farms; we know they're being transmitted from farms to wild fish; and we're beginning to understand that in some cases—for example, with PRV it's very clear—that they're li

Fisheries committee  I focus on a mechanism to have transparency throughout these processes. The review process needs to be open and transparent. We can see what information is going in, and we can see what information is coming out and being fed to the decision-maker. As scientists, if we know the

Fisheries committee  I can't speak to the CSAS process. I wasn't there in person. As scientists, we're used to having conflicting datasets. This is not a novel problem. I think there are better ways of dealing with that. I'm not sure—

Fisheries committee  In science, we have independent peer review, and if we have someone who's truly independent from the process, they'll be able to weigh up the different datasets and try to come to a conclusion, recognizing that uncertainty, and with some transparency of that uncertainty. The pro

Fisheries committee  Thank you for the question. I covered much of my points in my statement. I guess I focus on instances where we've heard of science coming from DFO scientists themselves, whether that's through a CSAS process or through internal communication of science, and science not making it

Fisheries committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for inviting me to speak today. I am a viral ecologist and geneticist at the University of British Columbia. I work alongside a team of scientists from the Pacific Salmon Foundation and DFO. Much of my research is focused on a v

Fisheries committee  There is now overwhelming evidence that PRV poses a risk to wild Pacific salmon, and salmon farming is amplifying those risks. I will review this body of work in my written submission to you, but the take-home message is that salmon farms are a source of infection to wild salmon,