Environment committee  The island is currently designated a migratory bird sanctuary under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. At certain times of the year, for certain species in certain places, the act provides legal protection, in the sense that one cannot disturb or alter habitat for migratory bird

Environment committee  I cannot speak to the details of a directive at this point. We're aware that under the accord act that is something that can be done.

Environment committee  Exactly.

Environment committee  We've had some discussions with the Offshore Petroleum Board about how to address this kind of issue. Under the accord act, the board has to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with any agency that has regulatory authority within the offshore. With Bill S-15, and with the est

Environment committee  Thank you. Our understanding of low-impact seismic was mainly based on the 1999 program that was undertaken on Sable Island. The sound sources that were used came from two vibroseismic trucks that were barged onto the island. They're about the size of gravel trucks. They emit a

Environment committee  There was a code of practice that was developed by Mobil in 1996 for the 1999 program. That code of practice was the starting point. Ms. Lucas negotiated, along with others, changes to that code of practice that would put into place more stringent action to avoid wildlife, vegeta

Environment committee  On the tanker traffic issue, I'm not aware of our having participated in consultations or having been consulted, in part because we are not aware of tanker traffic that goes within the ten-kilometre area. So we're not aware of that. With respect to the buffer, there's no formal

Environment committee  There are a couple of things your question touches on, Mr. McGuinty. First of all, there was an announcement by the federal government to look at an area of interest for a future marine protected area in Hecate Strait. Our interim management plan, consistent with the work plan u

Environment committee  Yes, there has. In the 1960s, especially between 1968 and 1969, a company drilled 8 or 9 holes underground, but, at the time, it was outside the boundaries of our marine conservation area. We were told that it did not involve any resources intended for exploitation.

Environment committee  That would be something we would recommend to the field unit: that in developing their program to monitor the ecological sustainable use of this area, we focus on one of those elements.

Environment committee  The four companies relinquished their rights voluntarily to Nature Conservancy of Canada. They gave them outright to the Nature Conservancy of Canada voluntarily. We could get the details of whatever arrangement was negotiated between the Nature Conservancy and the companies, b

Environment committee  Thanks for the question. I should stress, first of all, that it's an interim management plan. So the idea was to work with stakeholders to give them a sense of how this area would be managed initially. For national parks, we don't do that. We establish them, and then we develop

Environment committee  I don't recall the exact nature of the drilling that might have gone on at that time. This proposal was first put forth by the Haida in the 1980s, so a lot of this work was done once the moratorium was put in place.

Environment committee  Mr. McGuinty, I would add a couple of things in terms of international standards and what we are doing with this national marine conservation area. First of all, the international community looks at these kinds of protected areas to look at to what degree are you protecting the