{"id":124932,"date":"2018-06-05T12:36:41","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T12:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/bill-c-68\/"},"modified":"2018-06-05T12:36:41","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T12:36:41","slug":"bill-c-68","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/bill-c-68\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping Habitat : Bill C-68"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been invited to write a regular column on conservation issues related to Muskies and their Habitat.  <\/span>So my territory overlaps well with the range of Muskies in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n

A bit about me first, I work for Ducks Unlimited Canada as the Director of Regional Operations for Eastern Canada.  <\/span>This means I oversee DUC\u2019s conservation work east of Manitoba. So my territory overlaps well with the range of Muskies in Canada.  <\/span>I have been a member of Muskies Canada for three years and am yet to catch my first Muskie.  <\/span>I hope the 2018 is my year.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I worked with Peter Levick, then president of Muskies Canada to develop a Memorandum of Understanding between Muskies and DUC in 2015.  <\/span>In this MOU we <\/span>committed to ongoing collaboration to expand mutual habitat conservation projects that benefit Muskellunge and Waterfowl in eastern Canada.  <\/span>Given our shared focus on habitat this was the quickest MOU that I have ever developed.  <\/span>You will have seen in Chris Nielson\u2019s Presidents message, that we are seeing good examples of working together.<\/span><\/p>\n

Implications of proposed amendments to the Fisheries Act<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

One of the powerful tools supporting habitat conservation at scale is Federal or Provincial legislation or policy.  <\/span>These government directions can have significant impacts on habitat and uses of habitat.  <\/span>The federal fisheries act is a critical act that regulates activities related to fisheries and fish habitat.  <\/span>As such, it is an important tool in conservation of habitat.  <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The fisheries act underwent significant modernization and change in 2012.  <\/span>Some of these changes reduced the extent of fish habitats protected across Canada.  <\/span>The Federal government has introduced new amendments to the act (Bill C-68) that will have a significant impact on fish and fish habitat.  <\/span>Some highlights include:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Before Proposed Amendments<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

After Proposed Amendments<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Not all fish and fish habitat protected; only those related to a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery protected<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Protection of all fish and fish habitat<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Uncertainty as to when authorizations are required for development projects<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Clarity on which types of projects require authorizations through permitting and codes of practice<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Lack of transparency regarding authorization decisions for projects; no requirement to publicly release information on these decisions<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Requirement to publicly release information on project decisions through an online registry<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

No provisions to restore degraded habitat as part of development project reviews<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Provisions to consider restoration priorities as part of development project reviews<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

No tools to quickly implement in-season fisheries restrictions to address unforeseen conservation and management issues<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Ability to put in place targeted short-term measures to quickly and effectively respond to unforeseen threats to the management of fisheries and to the conservation of fish<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/span>These proposed amendments are important to Muskies Canada for several reasons.  <\/span>First, the changes strengthen the protection of habitat for muskellunge throughout their lives.  <\/span>In addition, the proposed amendments will make is easier to know and understand if future development projects are going to impact muskellunge habitat and how developer will compensate for these impacts.  <\/span>The amendments are more explicit on compensation for destruction of fish habitat.  <\/span>Muskies Canada has the opportunity to guide compensation for loss of muskellunge habitat.<\/span><\/p>\n

The act is currently moving thru the parliamentary process and the government is considering the proposed amendments.   <\/span>MP and Federal Ministers respond to comments from members of grass roots organizations like Muskies Canada. <\/span><\/p>\n

So it is time to Take Action<\/span><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can have a positive influence on getting Bill C-68 adopted by sending a letter, email or talking to your MP and\/or Dominic LeBlanc the Federal Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard.  <\/span>The message is simple you support the positive changes to increase the protection of fish habitat being proposed in Bill C-68.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is the complete Bill-C68 submission.<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been invited to write a regular column on conservation issues related to Muskies and their Habitat.  So my territory overlaps well with the range of Muskies in Canada. A bit about me first, I work for Ducks Unlimited Canada as the Director of Regional Operations for Eastern Canada.  This means I oversee DUC\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,67,57],"tags":[53,54,55],"class_list":["post-124932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-habitat-restoration-restocking","category-news","tag-bill-c-68","tag-ducks-unlimited","tag-habitats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muskies.kracmedia.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}