FREDERICTON –The Conservation Council in collaboration with other Canadian environmental organizations, wrote to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans on March 7, 2017, thanking the entire membership of the Standing Committee on for its report presented to the House of Commons on February 24, 2017 on the review of changes made in 2012 to the Fisheries Act.
In 2015, the government committed to “review the previous government’s changes to the Fisheries and Navigable Waters Protection Acts, restore lost protections, and incorporate modern safeguards” that had been cut from the Fisheries Act in 2012. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans released its report on February 24, 2017.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans report makes 32 recommendations, many of which propose restoring protections lost in 2012, addressing long-standing regulatory issues, and filling gaps in funding and enforcement capacity.
“We believe that the recommendations included in the report provide a sound basis for the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard to move forward on his mandate to restore lost protections and introduce modern safeguards to the Fisheries Act,” said the letter addressed to Honourable Dominic Leblanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard and Mr. Terry Beech, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.
Environmental organizations also listed among the signatories, include the Atlantic Salmon Federation, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecology Action Centre, Ecojustice, Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW), Northern Confluence Initiative, Oceana, Pacific Streamkeepers Federation, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada and WWF-Canada.
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Read the full letter addressed to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans report on Fisheries Act, here.
Read the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans full report here: Review of changes made in 2012 to the fisheries act: enhancing the protection of fish and fish habitat and the management of Canadian fisheries.
Read our March 1st story on the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans’ recommendations: Recover fish populations and protect fish habitat, recommends Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans.