Will Amos: Amendments to the Fisheries Act

Will Amos: Amendments to the Fisheries Act

Pontiac MP William Amos posted on his Facebook page that following two rounds of public consultations, Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, has introduced amendments to the laws regulating commercial Fishing, that reverses the changes made by the Harper Government, by reinstating former protections and by introducing new, modern conservation measures to protect fish and their habitats.
The proposed amendments are:
– reinstate the former protections by reducing the much broader prohibition on harming the fish and their natural habitat;
– strengthen the role of indigenous peoples in project reviews, monitoring and policy development for these projects;
– ensure that decisions are made taking into account the principles of sustainability, responsibility and proper ecosystem management;
– seek to promote the restoration of degraded habitat and the recovery of depleted fish stocks;
– enable better management of small and large operations that could harm fish or their habitat through the adoption of a new permit regime and policies;
– create new fishery management tools to improve the protection of fish and ecosystems;
reinforce the creation of long-term marine refuges to ensure the protection of biodiversity;
– ensure that the economic benefits derived from fishing go to license holders and their communities by making sure current fishing policies are included in the regulations;
These changes, aimed at restoring damaged fish stocks and degraded habitat. Mr. Amos invited Pontiac residents to send their comments by email (william.amos@parl.gc.ca).