The new Fisheries Act (Bill C68) is the result of nearly four years of extensive public and stakeholder consultation. Several leading environmental and conservation organizations actively participated in the process.
In general, we feel as though changes to the Fisheries Act go a long way to restoring lost protections and introducing modern safeguards. To meaningfully enact these legislative gains, these changes must be implemented alongside the right regulations.
It’s this implementation that will ultimately better protect fish and fish habitat.
What’s next?
Our focus now is to ensure that key gains made in the Fisheries Act are implemented. Here we outline some of our priorities:
We are hoping to see the Minister establish Ecologically Significant Areas (ESAs) in the near future. We have developed a couple of case studies for the East and West coast to highlight some of the potential opportunities.
Our hope is that implementation of the modernized Fisheries Act moves us forward to better protect and restore oceans, watersheds and wild fish, and rebuild habitat and fisheries.
THANK YOU…FROM COAST TO COAST TO COAST!
In the summer of 2019, Canada passed important new laws that modernized some of the country’s oldest environmental legislation. We now have strong protections for our waterways and oceans, fish and fish habitat and our independent fishers. Keeping whales and dolphins in captivity and importing and exporting shark fins are no longer allowed.
As organizations protecting land, air and water from across the nation, we’ve been working hard to ensure these laws keep Canadians and our environment healthy.
Thank you to all the Members of Parliament, Senators and their staff for their work ensuring healthier fisheries and oceans for our country, from the following organizations:
