In the absence of an actual explanation from the minister's perspective, I don't really know, but I suspect it's much like exclusions under the Species at Risk Act or the Fisheries Act, where research activities are excluded from certain restrictions. For example, I suppose, if it's going into an area and boats are asked not to go into that area, it could be to facilitate ongoing research on an issue. It's not uncommon for those kinds of exclusions to exist, but I don't know the full motivation behind most of these clauses.
On November 8th, 2018. See this statement in context.