The Conservation Council is pleased that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans has included restoring fish populations and protecting fish habitat in its recommendations of what to include in a new Fisheries Act. The recommendations were tabled to Hon. Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, on Feb. 24, 2017.
The Standing Committee’s report is comprised of 32 recommendations, many of which propose restoring protections that were removed from the Fisheries Act in 2012. Addressing gaps in funding and enforcement capacity are also recommended in the report.
“If the Committee’s recommendations are acted on, the Fisheries Act will once again serve as a central tool in protecting our shared fresh and saltwater,” says Matt Abbott, the Conservation Council’s Fundy Baykeeper.
While supportive of the report, the Conservation Council noted a few significant gaps including the absence of recommendations addressing the Aquaculture Activities Regulations (AAR) and the Owner Operator/Fleet Separation policies. Both these issues were discussed in the report, but no recommendations were made.
The AAR were implemented after the Fisheries Act was changed in 2012 and, in many ways, embody the regressive changes to the Act leading to weaker environmental protections. A thorough review of the 2012 changes would require repealing or changing the AAR.
Owner Operator and Fleet Separation are policies that ensure that fishing licenses do not end up concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies and that the people who hold fishing licenses are actually aboard fishing boats. These policies help keep control of fisheries in local hands. Maintaining the local character of our fisheries is important to conservation efforts as it ensures that local people who know and care for local waters are in control of fishing efforts.
Prior to the release of the recommendations, the Standing Committee heard from over 50 experts and stakeholders between October and December 2016 on how to strengthen the Fisheries Act. The committee also received 189 written briefs from people across the country.
The Conservation Council in collaboration with First Nations, law foundations, conservation groups and environmental scientists reached out to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans and directly to the Fisheries Minister to call for a return of strong protection of fish habitat in the legislation and an increase in environmental science and enforcement to ensure laws are effective.
In April 2016, the Conservation Council supported a petition to restore habitat protections under the Fisheries Act. In March 2016, we joined an open letter and briefing note to then Fisheries Minister Hunter Tootoo.
“Focusing on restoring fish populations and protecting fish habitat is so important given that less than a quarter of Canada’s fish stocks today are regarded as healthy,” says Abbott.