Fisheries committee  Thank you, and thank you for inviting me to speak here today. The Ecology Action Centre is Atlantic Canada's oldest and largest community-based environmental organization. We work toward sustainable environment and sustainable livelihoods. I am pleased to be able to speak to you, on behalf of our over 5,000 members, on this important issue to Canadians.

Fisheries committee  I'd have to think a bit more about that. I can't think of the specific aspect of the act and the wording that I would suggest, but I will get back to you on that.

Fisheries committee  Yes, it's very hard to know if the act is being upheld, or whether the law is being broken, if you have nobody watching.

Fisheries committee  I would say that it's because we have seen when there's a lack of adherence to science advice. Perhaps if the minister at the time had made different decisions around the management of the cod stocks, many citizens would not have had to face the impact of that decision. I did a lot of research.

Fisheries committee  Then we would get better conservation outcomes.

Fisheries committee  I would say that it's a combination of both. I think you have to have a strong act, so that it is enforceable, and then there have to be resources, enforcement on the ground. I do think with the more people who work together, you get more compliance, but unless you have some enforcement, you get no compliance.

Fisheries committee  On co-management, I think you'll see there are many coastal communities and fisheries that would like to have co-management, because it gives them a stake in the game and it increases potential for stewardship. When it comes to understanding both science and management, when it's just top down, there isn't a shared sense of responsibility sometimes.

Fisheries committee  On marine fish populations, I think we can take the lead from the United States on this. At least in the northeastern U.S., they have done an assessment of vulnerability of 86 fish stocks to climate change. They're taking that into consideration when they develop their management plans.

Fisheries committee  I think there's very good guidance already in the laws of the United States around rebuilding and also with the common fisheries policy in the European Union. We have commitments through the CBD, the Convention on Biological Diversity, to rebuild our fish stocks. We need to put the words in our act.

Fisheries committee  Yes.

Fisheries committee  I think it's a combination. There needs to be a reinstatement of resources. I think, though, that working with municipalities and understanding public works and being much more flexible and efficient in terms of.... That is exactly the problem. We shouldn't have to wait six months to get approval to replace a culvert.

Fisheries committee  Yes, I think the addition of “activities” is good.

Fisheries committee  The addition of “activities” in “works, undertakings or activities”, that is positive and should stay. The other part about making the letters of advice enforceable is also good. Those two things are good changes and should stay. To respond to your comment about the difficulty in doing restorations, one thing we advised back in 2010 was that, with conservation groups and environmental groups, there be an actual letter of advice for restoration activities, so that they could happen much more quickly.

Fisheries committee  Yes, absolutely. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. The primary part of my particular recommendation on HADD is that there is important case law that has been established. Without HADD we lose the application of that case law, and all that hard work that Canadians went through to get the fisheries law upheld.

Fisheries committee  I would say on major projects there needs to be enforcement. I think where there's an authorization that we know has been given and there are offsets, I think there needs to be checking in on that at the field officer level. A lot can be done by improving best practices and what is required for fish habitat protection.