DFO has collaborative arrangements with the provinces. They vary from province to province with respect to who goes first. In the eastern provinces in particular, for any watercourse alteration permit, the province leads, and we have established advice that the province uses that meets the federal requirement.
Our long-term objective is to ensure that we develop codes of practice that can be communicated by either a provincial, municipal, or federal department. The idea is that, at the end of the day, fisheries are protected. We're not trying to create more bureaucracy to achieve the same outcome.
The general objective for any stream crossing is to allow passage of fish and protection of fish habitats. They often do not require a federal authorization, because if designed correctly, they allow fish to pass and don't cause harm to habitats. Our end goal is to achieve the objective of conserving fisheries, not to create paperwork to permit and authorize these things.
Permits for stream crossings are very, very rare. They're typically for large-scale projects that cause harm. Our goal is to avoid harm to fish and fish habitats, and the best way to do that is to provide standard advice and guidance as early as possible in collaboration with provincial and municipal regulators and permit issuers.