A Dark Day for Fisheries and the Enviornment in Canada

As a grad student in Zoology at the University of Ottawa in the mid 1970's, I had the opportunity to sit in on Dr. Leslie Shaw's course in Environmental Law. On of the first things we were taught was the critical importance of the Fisheries Act and in particular(Section 34) and in particulatr

Section 2 which defines fish as

“shellfish, crustaceans, marine animals, the eggs, sperm, spawn, spat and juvenile
stages of fish, shellfish, crustaceans, and marine animals.”

Section 34 which defines fish habitat as::   

“spawning grounds and nursery, rearing, food supply and migration areas on which
fish depend directly or indirectly in order to carry out their life processes.”

and Section 35(1) which:

"prohibits the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat (HADD)"

All in all a very powerful piece of legislation which has been the cornerstone of aquatic environmental protection and conservation for generations. But the mortar is crumbling.

Within  the omnibus budget bill C-38, the Federal Government included Fisheries Act amendments which severally reduce fish habitat protection (elimination in many cases) by narrowing the range of species protected (few of Canada's more then 50 threatened or vulnerable fish species are of importance to commercial, recreational or aboriginal fisheries).

The same bill also has taken Canada's renowned Experimental Lakes Area off  life support  and into receivership.

Petitions and pleas from the public, eminent scientist  and four former ministers of Fisheries and Oceans from previous Progressive Conservative and Liberal governments went unheeded and the bill was passed on Friday June 15.

The Globe and Mail -commentary- Science, not politics, should be at the heart of fisheries

Welcome to our Brave New World.