Ensuring the Health of the Oceans and Other Seas

Prepared in connection with
Canada's participation at the meeting
of the United Nations Commission on
Sustainable Development
April 1997

by

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

1997
Ottawa, Canada

Contents

• Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities
• Canadian Environmental Protection Act

• Working with Small Island Developing States

Introduction

Canada is a coastal state with vital sovereign interests in three bordering oceans. It has the world's longest coastline (almost 250 000 kilometres) and second largest continental margin (roughly 6.5 million square kilometres). Its 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Fishing Zone, declared in 1977, and 200-nautical-mile Exclusive Economic Zone, declared in the new Oceans Act in 1996, represent 37 percent of Canada's landmass. Approximately 6.5 million Canadians (23 percent) live in coastal communities, and only one northern Inuit community is not located on the Arctic coast. Many major cities are coastal ports or are located on the St. Lawrence/Great Lakes system, one of the world's longest and most heavily used waterways. Weather and climate, which are driven by oceans processes, determine the location and success of our important fishing, agriculture, and forestry industries. Canada's fishing industry is a major exporter of fisheries products and the mainstay of hundreds of small communities in coastal areas. Canada is richly endowed with freshwater resources—7.5 percent of the country's surface area is covered by freshwater.

The oceans sector generates more than $7.9 billion of Canada's gross domestic product (GDP). Approximately 40 percent of that is primary and secondary production in fisheries and aquaculture, which contributes $3.2 billion to the GDP. The remaining $4.7 billion is divided among the marine shipping sector (33 percent), shipbuilding (14 percent), manufacturing and services (10 percent), and the oil and gas industries (4 percent). In addition to these direct impacts, the oceans sector generates significant indirect economic activity in other sectors of the Canadian economy.

In Canada, the federal government has principal authority over oceans and their resources. Provincial and territorial governments have jurisdiction over shorelines, some marine areas, and many land-based activities. Aboriginal people are gaining greater control over specific resource management concerns in some regions, particularly in Nunavut and Inuvialuit.

Canada faces a number of challenges in addressing marine environment issues. The conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources remains a primary focus of oceans-related activity for Canada. Stock conservation problems, allocation conflicts between user groups, international transboundary disputes, excessive harvesting capacity, and fiscal restraint have combined to encourage the federal government to pursue a strategy to advance industry restructuring and to introduce changes to fisheries policies and management practices domestically and internationally in order to achieve the objective of an economically and environmentally sustainable fishing sector.

The prevalence of marine pollution from land and sea presents significant challenges for Canada and other oceans states. Most of the pollution load of the oceans, including municipal, industrial, and agricultural wastes and runoff, as well as atmospheric deposition, emanates from land-based activities and affects the most productive areas of the marine environment, including estuaries and nearshore coastal waters. These are likewise threatened by physical alteration of the coastal environment, including destruction of habitats of vital importance for ecosystem health.

Another challenge relates to the fact that while marine transportation represents an energy-efficient and, therefore, environmentally preferable means to transport goods, it brings with it environmental risks. Canada is committed to minimizing this risk, as evidenced by its ongoing efforts to improve the safety of marine navigation. For example, Canada is implementing a new navigational system known as the Differential Global Positioning System, which is widely heralded as state-of-the-art technology throughout the world.

These pressures on the marine environment highlight the numerous and sometimes competing demands placed on the marine ecosystem. Many of the resulting environmental impacts are the result of unplanned and/or locally driven decisions that have been made without consideration of their wider environmental impacts. This illustrates a need to focus on integrated approaches to marine activities. For example, the multiple or conflicting use of coastal areas, including fishing, aquaculture, tourism, recreation, construction of human habitats, waste discharge, marine mining, and shipping, make the application and success of isolated approaches questionable. For users of the oceans resources to coexist and ensure the sustainability of the marine environment, integrated approaches to oceans activities management are critical.

Continuing efforts to reduce uncertainty is key in supporting the proper management of marine resources. For example, despite the remarkable progress made this century in understanding the dynamics of marine stocks and ecosystems, uncertainty about the current status and future trajectory of marine systems remains a major constraint to ensuring long-term sustainability of the fisheries. However, continuing improvements to our knowledge of oceans resources, including the dynamics of fished stocks and the effects of pollution in an ecosystem context, are an essential basis for resource conservation.

This monograph provides an overview of how Canada is responding to these challenges. It sets out some future directions that Canada sees for oceans issues.

The Oceans Act And The Oceans Management Strategy

A new Oceans Act came into force in January 1997. The Oceans Act represents a significant step toward establishing Canadian oceans jurisdiction and consolidating federal management of oceans and coasts. It entrenches an ecosystem approach to oceans management, based on the principles of integrated resource management, sustainable development, and the precautionary principle.

The Oceans Act responds to many of the measures highlighted in Chapter 17 of Agenda 21. It confirms Canada's jurisdiction over its maritime zones (its Territorial Sea, the Contiguous Zone, and the Exclusive Economic Zone) and their resources consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the responsibility to manage them sustainably.

Key to the Oceans Act is the development of the Oceans Management Strategy (OMS). Based on the principles of sustainable development, the integrated management of activities in estuaries and coastal and marine waters, and the precautionary approach, the OMS will set the stage for many oceans activities. The first step in implementing the OMS will be the establishment of a national policy and framework for Integrated Coastal Zone Management in 1997. Addressing objectives within Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, the OMS is based on the premise that oceans activities management must be based on a collaborative effort among stakeholders and governments. The OMS allows for the development of flexible strategies for oceans activities management that can be implemented regionally by stakeholders. The OMS calls for the creation of marine protected areas for the conservation of living marine resources and a system of marine environmental quality standards to judge performance in achieving effective ecosystem-based integrated management.

The Arctic

Canada is one of eight Arctic states, together with Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. They share a wide range of interests that transcend state boundaries. Those interests are vital to the environmental integrity of the Arctic and the well-being of its peoples. The Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (AEPS), a cooperative program involving all eight nations in the region, was established to protect their common environment. It promotes the sustainable use of Arctic natural resources for the benefit of all people living in the Arctic, including future generations. The AEPS also includes three international Indigenous peoples' organizations. It has five working groups, including ones on the protection of the Arctic marine environment and on emergency, prevention, preparedness, and response.

In September 1996, the eight Arctic countries signed a declaration establishing the Arctic Council. The council, to be chaired by Canada for the first term, will be the intergovernmental forum for regional issues for the eight countries. Canada will engage residents of the Arctic, particularly Indigenous people, to identify goals and priorities for a sustainable development program for the Arctic.

Canada has just completed the Arctic Environmental Sailing Directions project to provide environmental sensitivity maps for marine navigators travelling in the Canadian Arctic through the Northwest Passage. These maps highlight specific areas where high concentrations of various Arctic species are most likely to be found at different times of the navigation season. They will assist ships masters and pilots to choose the routes that will minimize negative impacts on the Arctic ecosystem.

Marine Environmental Protection

Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities

In November 1995, Canada, together with 109 other nations, adopted the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) in Washington. Since that time, Canada has been working to implement the GPA both domestically and abroad.

To coincide with Oceans Day 1996 (June 8), the federal ministers of Fisheries and Oceans and the Environment released a discussion paper called "Developing Canada's National Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities". This will help lead to the National Programme of Action (NPA) that Canada has committed to develop by 1998, the International Year of the Oceans.

Canada's NPA will be developed and implemented as a partnership between federal and provincial/territorial governments in consultation with other relevant stakeholders, including environmental groups, Aboriginal organizations, industry, academia, and private sector organizations. It will focus on regional implementation in the Atlantic Ocean, the St. Lawrence River/Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Pacific and Arctic Oceans under the overall umbrella of the NPA. Canada is also actively collaborating with partner nations to develop an Arctic Regional Program of Action under the auspices of the AEPS and the Arctic Council.

Under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, two subregional coastal areas have been selected for pilot projects to implement the GPA: the Southern California Bight and the Gulf of Maine.

Canada has been very active in addressing ship-source pollution. In 1994, Canada acceded to the International Convention on Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation, which is aimed at preventing oil pollution. As a result, Canada is revising its joint marine contingency plan with the United States for responding to spills in shared boundary waters. Canada is also playing a role in the revision of the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Convention).

Canadian Environmental Protection Act

Amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, now before Canada's federal parliament, incorporate a new focus on land-based sources of marine pollution. This new provision would support the NPA in preventing and reducing marine pollution from land-based sources.

Domestic Progress In Fisheries Management

The conservation and sustainable use of fisheries resources remains a primary focus of oceans-related activity for Canada. The federal government goal is an economically and environmentally sustainable fishing sector. To achieve it, the federal government is pursuing a strategy to advance industry restructuring and to introduce changes to fisheries policies and management practices, both domestically and internationally.

Canada is guided in this undertaking by the following principles:

• conservation comes first;
• Aboriginal rights must be respected;
• industry capacity must be balanced with the sustainable carrying capacity of the resource; and
• government and industry must move toward operating in partnership with one another.

Many domestic policy developments have been undertaken in support of these objectives, including the following:

• the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy, whereby the federal government enters into agreements with Aboriginal organizations to involve Aboriginal peoples in the sustainable management of the fishery;
• the introduction of amendments to the Fisheries Act that will update the legal basis for fisheries conservation and habitat management in Canada and provide for partnering agreements that will increase the role of stakeholders in the decision-making process;
• the development of integrated management plans for all harvested species or stocks that incorporate the interests of commercial, Aboriginal, and recreational users and are consistent with Canada's international obligations;
• the implementation of a risk-averse precautionary approach to resource management that places conservation first;
• a program for responsible fishing to address with industry such issues as sustainable fishing and to encourage the development of national and international codes of conduct; and
• a package of adjustment measures, including voluntary licence buy-back programs and changes in licensing policy, aimed at reducing fishing pressure and enhancing the economic and ecological sustainability of the harvesting sector on both Canada's east and west coasts.

In addition, provincial and territorial governments are working cooperatively with the federal government to improve policies to strengthen fisheries management. For example, the governments of Canada and British Columbia are conducting a comprehensive bilateral review of their respective roles and responsibilities in the management of the Pacific salmon fishery. The objective of this exercise is to maintain and enhance the conservation and long-term sustainability of salmon stocks while providing for the long-term viability of the industry. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has enacted legislation to establish standards and certify fishers as professionals. This will foster a more professional fish-harvesting sector, prepare the industry to take on more responsibility for fisheries management, and help restore and maintain a sustainable balance between harvesting capacity and resource supply.

International Fisheries Activities

The Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10th December 1982 relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks was adopted by consensus in August 1995 at the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks. Canada participated actively in its elaboration as the leader of a group of coastal states. Ratification of the agreement, signed on 4 December 1995, is a Canadian government priority.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is another important UN agency for fisheries issues. Canada was the first nation to become party to the FAO Compliance Agreement in 1994, which calls, inter alia, for all high seas fishing to be authorized. Canada was also involved in drafting the voluntary Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and has undertaken to develop a domestic code.

Regional Examples In Canada

This monograph has already noted some actions that provincial governments are taking on oceans management issues. However, there are many others worth noting. In Nova Scotia, the Round Table on the Environment and the Economy is carrying out community consultations that will lead to two pilot projects in integrated coastal resource management. These are expected to be operational by spring 1997.

The New Brunswick government adopted sustainable development as a provincial policy in 1992. That same year, a sustainable development program was implemented in coastal watersheds of New Brunswick to provide a mechanism for local community participation in the resolution of marine water quality problems. This process involves a multiagency working group consisting of all levels of government, business, and the public. This program currently covers six watersheds. New Brunswick has also developed a land-use planning model that plans activities on a watershed basis. New Brunswick will be hosting Coastal Zone Canada 2000, an international conference on coastal zone management.

Prince Edward Island is in the process of developing its own system of marine protected areas, which will provide for the conservation of sensitive resources and habitats, opportunities in ecotourism, and sustainable use planning for the coastal zone.

Quebec is working with the four Atlantic provinces to produce an Atlantic chapter of the NPA. Once established, Quebec will implement program activities that take place within the province.

On Canada's west coast, British Columbia is also participating in the NPA. It is working toward integrating program requirements into the context of integrated coastal zone planning and management. The Coastal Communities Network was established in 1993 to allow for greater community participation in managing oceans-based resources for a sustainable economic future. It currently represents twenty-eight communities, including Aboriginal groups.

In areas of international and regional cooperation, the 1992 British Columbia/Washington State (United States) Environmental Cooperation Agreement established an International Task Force on the Puget Sound/Georgia Basin. This task force coordinates environmental monitoring and research efforts. It covers the sharing of data and information in areas such as minimizing habitat loss, protecting marine species and animals, minimizing the introduction of non-native species, and controlling toxic wastes in marine resources that British Columbia and Washington share.

Development Initiatives

Canada provides oceans management and development assistance through the International Development Research Centre and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). CIDA projects have helped partner countries to focus harvesting on underutilized species and reduce postharvest loss. Canada has provided fish food aid to countries in emergency and other special circumstances. CIDA has also assisted in the building of capacity via its training and awards programs in Canada and abroad.

CIDA has also contributed to building marine affairs institutions in a number of countries. Examples are the Malaysian Institute of Marine Affairs and the Philippines Institute of Marine Affairs. In both cases, national centres of excellence are joint ventures between CIDA and the respective governments. In order to respond to Chapter 17 commitments of Agenda 21, CIDA has updated its oceans, marine affairs, and fisheries database to include Canadian ocean capacity and to improve information/ data with national and international development communities.

Working with Small Island Developing States

Canada and small island developing states share a common and deep interest in the conservation and sustainable use of the world's oceans resources. These states have been an important focus of Canada's international oceans-related cooperation.

Through CIDA, Canada is supporting Commonwealth Caribbean island states by funding a regional fisheries assessment and management program. This program is geared toward management, conservation, and sustainable exploitation of their fishery and oceans resources.

Canada has largely directed its bilateral assistance program in the South Pacific toward groups involved in oceans resources management. The Canada­South Pacific Ocean Development Project is aimed at strengthening key regional organizations in oceans resource development and management.

Next Steps

The coming years will be active for Canada as it delivers its oceans programs. With the Oceans Act coming into force in January 1997, the OMS process will commence. This will facilitate a collaborative effort toward oceans policy development in Canada. The establishment of marine protected areas will likely be a key activity of this process. Pursuing an integrated approach to oceans activities management will continue to be a significant challenge for all participants in the oceans sector.

The NPA process is under way and is a significant undertaking for the federal government, the coastal provinces/territories, and all interested parties. It will be a major factor in protecting the marine environment. Continued progress in protecting the marine environment from ship sources of pollution through prevention and response programs, as well as through ensuring safe passage for ships through Canadian waters, is an important component in preventing marine pollution.

Fisheries management issues will continue to present challenges. Through measures such as the Fishery of the Future and amendments to the Fisheries Act, resource users and stakeholders will be more involved in decision making and the conservation of the fisheries resource. The integrated approach to fisheries management will be a key component of this more collaborative approach.

Improving our knowledge of the oceans environment is an ongoing challenge. For example, attaining sustainable fisheries requires a much broader approach and understanding, one that includes ecosystem considerations, social and economic considerations, and the impacts of human activities on aquatic ecosystems. The effects of pollution on the oceans environment also needs further examination.

Internationally, Canada will continue to promote the conservation and sustainability of fish stocks on the high seas, and will press the international community to develop and ratify agreements to ensure the sustainability of these stocks.

Additional copies of this publication are available in limited quantities from:
Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Communications Branch
200 Kent Street, 14th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0E6

© Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada 1997
Cat. No. E2-136/3-1997
ISBN 0-662-62895-0