Top marks to Fisheries Act changes: Corbett

Our Executive Director, Lois Corbett, joined conservation and environmental groups clear across the country in welcoming proposed changes to Canada’s Fisheries Act.

In articles published in the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal and CBC New Brunswick, Corbett and our Fundy Baykeeper Matt Abbott said the new legislation is good news for New Brunswick, the Bay of Fundy, and the thousands of jobs that depend on healthy fish habitat.

Corbett told the CBC the changes would protect the environment while ensuring a productive fishery, adding that it not only reversed much of the damage caused by changes the previous government made to the act in 2012, but added new smart policy tools as well.

“At the end of the day, science has shown and Indigenous leaders have proved this century after century that a protected fishery is a productive fishery, which means jobs for our hardworking fishermen and women all over the country,” Corbett said.

Listen to a longer, more in-depth conservation between Corbett and CBC Information Morning Moncton host Jonna Brewer.

Corbett and Abbott told the Telegraph-Journal the changes would mean “better protection for coastal wetlands and estuaries, and habitat protection for the critical lobster fishery.”

The Conservation Council is part of a coalition of groups across the country who advocated for years for changes to the Fisheries Act. See the coalition’s response to the proposed changes here.

In short, welcome updates to the Act include:

  • a return to strong habitat protections for all fish
  • a focus on restoration, sustainability considerations
  • a public registry to track cumulative effects
  • provisions for rebuilding depleted fish stocks
  • recognition of indigenous rights and knowledge.

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