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CANADIAN WATERS | ![]() |
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Chapter 5
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To apply the no net loss guiding principle and achieve the habitat conservation goal, the Department will, through inter-agency cooperative arrangements, use established project referral systems and environmental and energy assessment and review procedures, wherever possible. The Department will generally conduct its reviews in accordance with the following six steps (Figure 2), recognizing that more time and effort will be required to complete Steps II, III and V for larger projects.
Information and requests for departmental approval of works or undertakings in or near the water will come to the attention of the Department in the following ways: (a) through established interagency referral systems, (b) inquiries from the proponent, (c) inquiries from concerned citizens, (d) public announcement of the project and (e) in response to requests from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to proponents for information about their projects. The majority of notifications come to the Department's attention through inter- agency referral mechanisms. These mechanisms have proved to be very effective in the past and the Department intends to continue using them.
Once information on a proposal is received, the Department undertakes an examination of the potential implications of the work or undertaking to the fisheries resource. For chemical hazards, information is needed on the physico-chemical properties of the suspect chemical and its by-products, its toxicity and pathology to fish, and the routes and rates of entry into the natural environment. For minor projects involving physical activities (e.g., salmon stream crossings) which disrupt important fish habitat, Fishery Officers and fish habitat management staff will assist operators to the extent feasible in identifying the biological impacts of the work or undertaking and will make a biological assessment of the requirements necessary to meet fisheries operational objectives. For major projects, obtaining and presenting relevant information on the project or the chemical compounds involved, and on the fish habitat that is likely to be affected, is the responsibility of the proponent under Section 37(l) of the Act. This step will take varying amounts of time to complete, depending on the size of the project, and it will be in the interest of proponents to provide assessments on a timely basis. Staff of the Department will assess the information obtained and if necessary visit the site and undertake studies to complete their assessments. As part of the examination step, the hierarchy of preferences (outlined in Section 5.1 of this chapter) will be used to guide both the Department and proponents; the amount of detail and time required will depend again on the size of the work or undertaking, and its potential impact on fish habitats.
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The Department recognizes the need to provide opportunities for public review and input to decisions on developments that have broad social, economic or environmental implications. More information on the Department's approach to public consultation may be found in Section 4.4 of this policy.
In the case of major development projects, where avoidance of habitat loss or damage is not feasible, and where mitigation and compensation measures cannot be implemented to fully avoid losses to the productive capacity of habitats, and particularly where special regulations to allow the project to proceed are contemplated under the Fisheries Act, no decision to proceed with the project in question will be taken by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans without public consultation and a thorough review and assessment of all factors.
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Following its examination of the proposed work or undertaking and the results of any public consultation, the Department will decide whether the project is likely to result in a net loss of productive habitat capacity. If a loss is likely, the Department will then have to decide if the proponent's plans to mitigate and compensate are acceptable. In cases involving chemical hazards, adverse effects must be controlled by mitigation measures to avoid potential damage to the productive capacity of fish habitats. For those cases, compensation in-kind is not an acceptable option.
The Department will give due consideration to the economic benefits and costs associated with the development of alternative solutions to achieve no net loss of productive capacity.
Depending on the outcome of the Department's deliberations, it could decide directly, or through a recommendation to the Minister in cases involving major development projects; as follows:
Any changes to the original conditions of approval will be negotiated between the Department and the proponent.
In cases where the Department has to advise a proponent that the work or undertaking is unacceptable, the Department will present information to support the following conclusions:
As explained in Section 4.8 of this policy, compliance monitoring and effectiveness evaluation are important components of habitat management policy.
The Department will enforce the legislation for which the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is accountable, using trained personnel, as explained in Section 4.1.
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Created: 1986-01-01 Updated: 2003-09-03 Reviewed: 2003-09-03 |