Mr. Speaker, to help hon. members in considering the bill now before the House allow me to offer some background on migratory birds and Canada's efforts to protect and conserve them.
The Migratory Birds Convention Act provides protection for over 400 species of migratory birds in Canada. Among them are water fowl, sea birds, shore birds and song birds. In all it is a remarkably wide variety.
Environment Canada's Canadian Wildlife Service works to ensure that all species of migratory birds will continue to survive and benefit future generations of Canadians. Safeguarding migratory birds requires many different measures because the birds themselves have such varied habitats and ways of life.
In every case, however, there are the same basic components to the strategy pursued by the wildlife service. It monitors bird populations. It informs Canadians about the status of birds and their habitats. It co-ordinates multi-party efforts to preserve habitats. It establishes and enforces regulations to curtail the abuse of birds.
In some cases research is needed to understand how human activity affects the chances for birds to survive. Sometimes special plans have to be made for the recovery of endangered bird species. The wildlife service deals with these needs as required.
In every case a broad ecosystem approach is essential involving many stakeholders. That approach is central to the work performed by the Canadian Wildlife Service.
The issues demanding attention are highly diverse. For example, tree harvesting may affect migratory song birds. Pesticide runoff from farms may harm water fowl. Commercial fishing nets may trap and drown sea birds. Spills of oil and other harmful substances may jeopardize entire sea bird colonies.
One crucial step that must be taken is to identify critical habitat for migratory birds not only in Canada but throughout their flyways. In this instance many of Canada's migratory birds winter in Latin America and the habitats must be protected. With this in mind the Canadian Wildlife Service has established a Latin American program to further Canada's interest in migratory birds wintering south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The program seeks to identify the needs of migratory birds so that they can be included in conservation planning.
To this end it relies heavily on co-operation with other countries and international organizations. That co-operation must be seen in the memorandum of understanding between the Canadian Wildlife Service and the American and Mexican
wildlife agencies to conserve migratory birds and their habitats in Mexico.
The service has also helped established international initiatives. One of these is these is the international waterfowl census of the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau. Another such initiative is the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. The network's objective is to identify and protect critical areas for the migration of shorebirds. Under this initiative the Wildlife Service has worked with countries throughout South America to develop an atlas of coastal shore bird habitats.
Here in Canada two hemispheric shorebird reserves have so far been identified, both of them in the upper Bay of Fundy. These have been twinned with three wetland sites in Suriname designated as hemispheric shorebird reserves in 1989. Work is proceeding to identify other important sites in Canada and to secure their designation and protection under the network.
Game bird species present a special challenge. They are an important recreational resource, translating into significant economic activity. At the same time we must see that this resource does not depreciate. In other words, we must ensure that it is used in a sustainable manner.
Canada manages migratory game bird species through an annual regulatory process for monitoring and controlling hunting. Associated with this process are population surveys. A hallmark of the process is consultation, in particular with the provinces and territories and with the American government agencies.
The Canadian Wildlife Services follows a two pronged approach in managing game bird species. One component of that approach is regulation and compliance; the other is habitat enhancement. Both efforts draw heavily on national and international input. Within Canada there is a notable contribution from the provinces and territories and increasingly from co-operative wildlife management boards involving aboriginal groups.
Internationally Canada works with the flyway councils set up to manage the birds according to their natural migratory pathways. We also work with the North American Waterfowl Management Plan Committee.
To support the consultations of developing game bird regulations, status reports are prepared. These publicly available documents give information on game bird populations and explain proposed changes to the regulations. The status reports are distributed to many Canadian and American organizations with an interest in migratory game bird conservation and with reports these organizations are in a position to influence the development of regulations.
The Wildlife Service also publishes an annual newsletter entitled "Bird Trends". This deals with the population status of Canadian birds. A top priority of the Wildlife Service is promoting public awareness about migratory bird issues. This is the first step toward fostering the volunteer networks on which the service relies for data collection.
Together with the Canadian Nature Federation the service sponsors Birdquest, a public information and education project on migratory birds. Birdquest encourages a basic understanding of the ecology of a bird, populations, and it does this by teaching participants about bird identification, bird study and bird conservation.
Those who successfully pass through Birdquest qualify to join one of the service's volunteer based programs. These play a key part in supporting migratory bird conservation initiatives and they help the service identify problems and implement solutions.
More important, the Birdquest program encourages Canadians to become actively involved in initiatives that contribute to migratory bird conservation. One of the most notable initiatives to protect migratory birds is the North American waterfowl management plan. This unique undertaking offers a forum for international agreement on a broad range of waterfowl management issues. It also provides the focus for action to enhance waterfowl habitat.
Under this co-operative agreement a series of joint ventures are targeting species inhabited areas of special concern.
In Canada the aims are to secure important waterfowl habitats throughout the country, to address the serious decline in western waterfowl populations, to initiate the collection of long-term survey data for eastern duck populations and to delineate and monitor the distinct breeding populations of Arctic nesting geese.
The north American waterfowl management plan brings together Canada, the United States and Mexico. It is a formal representation from Canadian provinces and territories as well as American states. Among its key contributors are the federal government, departments in Canada and the United States alike. It also involves many non-government organizations.
We can find broad co-operation in most of the activities of the Canadian Wildlife Service. With the United States the service works to conserve migrant songbirds through a program called Partners in Flight. With the aboriginal people, the service joins in co-operative wildlife management boards. With Canada's leading environmental non-governmental organizations, the service has a long history of joint projects.
Above all, with the provinces and territories, the service works to ensure the enforcement of the Migratory Bird Convention Act and to preserve ecosystems as habitats for wildlife and to tackle the problems of endangered species.
These are efforts that directly benefit all Canadians. Through the amendments to the Migratory Bird Convention Act it will be possible to reinforce these efforts and for that reason I support the passage of this bill. I urge all hon. members to do the same.