Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  To answer the first part of your question on any impediments to the development of the larger examples, I'm thinking that by this you mean the current net-pen facilities and their growth on both coasts. The impediments are largely regulatory at this point in time. We're waiting in British Columbia to be able to submit new applications for locations that are considered to be appropriate and sustainable, with plans to demonstrate that these intended facilities would be sustainable in those locations.

Fisheries committee  In a general sense, our business is about raising salmon for the population of North America, and everybody tells us that the population of North America is growing. Therefore, if our percentage of consumption is maintained per capita on a growing population, you will get increased demand.

Fisheries committee  Well, we did make application for federal funding through a couple of programs, the AIMAP of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for aquaculture innovation, and we made application through Science Development Technology Canada, SDTC. Both of those groups were supportive, and we were progressing those applications forward.

Fisheries committee  The intention of the pilot project, which I referred to a couple of times, including the siting and engineering reviews, is twofold. First of all, it is to identify the real costs of doing Atlantic salmon in British Columbia on a commercial scale. Right now we don't have demonstration projects on a commercial scale that can actually bring that information forward.

Fisheries committee  Well, I go back to the first part of my comments where I said that the reasons were to introduce actual operating information and costs—actual energy costs, actual capital costs, actual market receptivity information—into this debate in British Columbia, which is quite a large debate about where closed-system aquaculture fits.

Fisheries committee  It's tested throughout the year, all the time.

Fisheries committee  There are certification standards available right now for salmon aquaculture in the ocean or hatcheries. A lot of emphasis has been put on a couple of programs, including the WWF-sponsored program, the AFC, and the GAA best aquaculture practices certification program. These are attracting a lot of attention because they have moved more into the eco-certification zone.

Fisheries committee  Wild Atlantic salmon commercial fishing doesn't happen in British Columbia, so I can't add too much on that.

Fisheries committee  You're asking about the actions that the net-pen aquaculture industry have taken to address the concerns about sea lice. Sea lice on farm fish are quite different on the east coast than the west coast. That has been explained to the committee in the past. On the west coast, the sea lice are a different species and far less damaging to the fish.

Fisheries committee  As things stand today, if the Canadian industry were mandated to go 100% into this higher-cost form of production of closed containment, then your analysis would be correct. We would have some market, but nothing like what we have now. The markets that are looking for commodity pricing would choose those offshore products.

Fisheries committee  Yes. I think the question is regarding the environmental impact comparison, that is, the impacts of net-pen facilities in the ocean compared to recirculating aquaculture systems. It seems that the impacts are more apparent or greater in the net pens, and maybe less in the recirculating systems.

Fisheries committee  I'd be happy to add a bit more detail there. When we did the analysis for a site for this pilot project on the east coast of Vancouver Island and were looking from the Oyster River area, just south of Campbell River, all the way to Port Hardy, why did only 2 out of 16 identified areas make the grade?

Fisheries committee  My understanding right now is that the majority of people who are growing fish in these small facilities are using Pacific salmon. I know that SweetSpring Aquaculture in Puget Sound is growing coho. Swift, I believe, is coho as well. From my experience, and I've been 25 years in and around this industry, is that you work with what you know.

Fisheries committee  The quick response would yes and no. What I mean to say by that is where you have low energy costs and you do a business case analysis, you will find it's more viable than where the energy costs are higher. Our case analysis demonstrated that for British Columbia, energy is a big concern.