Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Fisheries

Issue 15 - Appendix

240 Sparks Street
Ottawa, Ontario
KIA 0G6

December 10, 2001

The Honourable Gérald J. Comeau
Chair
The Standing Senate Committee on Fisheries
The Senate
Room 574-S, Centre Block
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A4

Dear Mr. Comeau:

I wish to thank you and your committee for the interest you have shown in our December 2000 chapter, The Effects of Salmon Farming in British Columbia on the Management of Wild Salmon Stocks. In response to Recommendation number 2 of the Report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries, entitled Aquaculture in Canada’s Atlantic and Pacific Regions, I am pleased to provide you with the following information.

Each year after we publish our audit findings, we monitor actions taken by departments in response to our recommendations. We will continue to do this for the Pacific salmon farming chapter. In addition to our regular monitoring, we are planning to take a more in-depth look at progress made in response to all three chapters on Pacific salmon that we published in our 1997, 1999, and 2000 reports. As part of this work, we intend to broaden our focus to include an initial look at salmon farming on the Atlantic coast to determine if there are potentially significant audit issues. We expect to table this report in Parliament, at the latest, in 2004.

We are aware that aquaculture is becoming increasingly important for fisheries management. We will continue to monitor issues related to aquaculture to assess the need for further audit work in this area.

Thank you again for considering our audit reports. We look forward to maintaining a sound professional relationship with you and your committee in the coming months and years. If you believe that we may be of assistance in any way, we would be pleased to hear from you at your convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Sheila Fraser, FCA
Auditor General of Canada

cc: Ms. Barbara Reynolds, Clerk