GUARDIAN
  • About
  • Watch the Trailer
  • RENT
  • SCREENINGS & AWARDS
  • NEWS
  • PRESS
  • Contact

STAY INFORMED
​on the state of
science & fisheries
in Canada


Inadequate environmental impact assessments and crippled environmental legislation are still governing the fate of the Canadian landscape--but that could soon change.

Despite Justin Trudeau's inaugural promise to reinvest in ocean science, restore the scientific capability of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and use scientific evidence in environmental decision-making, liquefied natural gas projects continue to be approved without the amendments to environmental legislation Trudeau promised three years ago.

That being said, not all is lost. Amendments to the Fisheries Act and a newly-proposed Impact Assessment Act are currently being discussed in the Senate. Proposed amendments were introduced in February 2018 and passed the House of Commons in July 2018.

Soon after his inauguration, Justin Trudeau initiated a review of environmental and regulatory processes in response to rollbacks of environmental legislation under Stephen Harper. Over three years later, these promises may be coming to fruition.

Canada's next election is in October 2019.

Legislation increasing protection for fish and habitat clears Senate

6/8/2019

 
Bill C-68 will protect smaller inshore fishery operators from corporate takeover, group says
By Paul Withers
CBC NEWS

Trudeau government legislation that enshrines the independence of Atlantic Canada's inshore fishing fleets and enhances protections for fish stocks and fish habitat has cleared the Senate.

The news is a relief to Martin Mallet.

"This is great news. We've been waiting for this for a long while," said Mallet, executive director of the Maritime Fishermen's Union.

Inshore fishery associations like his lobbied hard for Bill C-68, which overhauls the Fisheries Act.

It will give the teeth of law to two key policies designed to prevent inshore fisheries — including lobster — from ending up in the hands of a few large companies.

The owner-operator and fleet separation policies keep commercial fishing licences in the hands of small enterprises and prevent companies from both fishing and processing the catch.

"This will protect smaller operators from corporate takeover," Mallet said in an interview from his office in Shediac, N.B. "It will protect our small coastal communities."

Conservatives won't delay C-68 in CommonsBill C-68 passed the Senate Thursday with Conservative support after Liberals agreed to remove the so called "water flow" amendment from Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, added in the House of Commons.

Conservatives warned it could give Fisheries and Oceans the ability to treat industrial, agricultural and municipal water flow locations as fish habitat.

A spokesperson for Conservative fishery critic MP Todd Doherty said Conservatives will not delay C-68 when it reaches the Commons.

The party still believes the bill is flawed — it restores habitat protections removed by the Harper government — but Conservatives support owner-operator and fleet separation policies in Atlantic Canada.

Fisheries groups warned Conservatives during the lobby campaign that Conservative candidates in Atlantic Canada would pay a price at the polls in the upcoming federal election if they vote against Bill C-68.

On Thursday, just three Conservative senators voted against it in the Senate.

Fish protectionsEnvironmentalists were also heartened to see the bill move to the House of Commons, where it is very likely to pass before Parliament rises.

In addition to protecting habitat, the new Fisheries Act also imposes new requirements on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to more carefully manage fisheries.

"This is one of our oldest pieces of legislation: 1868. And this is the first time we are going to see something that says sustainably manage our fish stocks and rebuild stocks that are depleted — first time," says Robert Rangeley, science director of Oceana Canada, a marine conservation group.

"So this is a really important piece of legislation."

Minister expects new Fisheries Act to passIn North Vancouver, federal Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson also welcomed the Senate vote.

He is on the verge of delivering a signature piece of legislation that fulfils a 2015 election commitment to restore lost protections for fish and fish habitat.
​
"It's a very important promise from an environmental perspective. It is one of the most important promises that we made with respect to fisheries and oceans and so from my perspective this is a very important milestone," Wilkinson said.
SOURCE: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fisheries-act-amendment-senate-inshore-fisheries-1.5167493

Comments are closed.

    THIS BLOG ...

    is an archive of news on science and environmental legislation in Canada with a particular focus on marine and freshwater ecosystems and LNG.

    Archives

    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018

    Categories

    All
    Bill C-48
    Bill C 68
    Bill C 69
    British Columbia
    Canada
    Climate Change
    Convention On Biological Diversity
    DFO
    Environmental Legislation
    Fisheries Act
    Fish Populations
    House Of Commons
    Impact Assessment Act
    IUCN
    LNG
    Marine Protected Areas
    Marine Refuges
    National Energy Board
    Salmon

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • About
  • Watch the Trailer
  • RENT
  • SCREENINGS & AWARDS
  • NEWS
  • PRESS
  • Contact