Fisheries and Oceans Canada is the federal lead for managing Canada’s fisheries, oceans and freshwater resources. The Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program (FFHPP) helps conserve and protect fisheries and aquatic ecosystems by conserving existing fish and fish habitat resources, protecting these resources against future impacts and restoring degraded fish habitat.
Changes made to the Fisheries Act in 2012 challenged our ability to protect fish and fish habitat. With the modernized Fisheries Act, which received Royal Assent June 21, 2019, the department envisions stronger protections to better support the sustainability of Canada’s fisheries. The modernized Fisheries Act restores the lost protections providing for protection of all fish and fish habitat and protection against the death of fish, other than by fishing and the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat.
Along with the modernized act, the department is revitalizing the program to build on lessons learned and have increased our capacity in our regulatory review and conservation & protection programs. Additionally, three program groups have been created to enable a better delivery of program outcomes to Canadians. They include an integrated planning group, a provincial and territorial partnerships group and an Indigenous Relations group.
In addition to elaborating on the modernized Fisheries Act and the revitalization of our program, the department would like to focus this session on mining projects in the region and the challenges around project impacts and offsetting.