Freshwater Initiative

Freshwater Roles and Responsibilities

DFO's roles and responsibilities in fresh waters support five long-term goals identified in the department's plans, policies and programs:

• Managing and protecting fisheries resources
• Protecting the marine and freshwater environment
• Understanding the oceans and aquatic resources
• Maintaining marine safety
• Facilitating maritime commerce and ocean development

DFO's roles and responsibilities are summarized below. DFO legislation, federal legislation and formal agreements relevant to freshwater are described in Annex A.

Managing and Protecting Fisheries Resources

The British North America Act (1867), now the Constitution Act (1867), vests the legislative authority for the protection and conservation of sea coast and inland fisheries to the Parliament of Canada. In 1868, Parliament enacted the Fisheries Act to carry out this responsibility. The Minister of Marine and Fisheries was given the responsibility for the Fisheries Act.

Over time, Canada has delegated many freshwater fisheries management responsibilities, in whole or in part, to Provinces and Territories:

• Delegation in whole has taken place in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
• Delegation in part, for trout enhancement, has taken place in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
• Delegation in British Columbia was for the management of trout hatcheries, but informally evolved into management of all non-Pacific salmon species.
• An order-in-council assigns sports fishing revenues and certain sport fishery management responsibilities to the Government of the Northwest Territories.
• Delegation of freshwater fisheries management responsibilities to the Yukon Territory took place in 1989.

Full management responsibility is maintained for all fisheries in Newfoundland.

The federal government maintains exclusive legislative authority under the Constitution Act to regulate, protect and conserve all of Canada's fisheries, sea-coast and inland. For the inland fisheries, the Crown (in the right of Provinces) has a proprietary right to most fisheries, so provincial legislatures have the legislative responsibility for regulating how and to whom the fishing rights can be conveyed. Under the assignment of administrative authority, the federal role is limited, with delegation to the provinces of day-to-day matters covered by federal regulations (quotas, gear restrictions, enforcement, licensing). In this regard, the management for inland fisheries management is shared.

Freshwater fisheries management activities include some or all of:

• fisheries policy, planning and legislation
• integrated fishery management plans
• fiduciary responsibilities
• allocation
• licensing
• harvest monitoring
• compliance monitoring and enforcement
• fishing industry analysis
• fisheries management administration

In Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, DFO provides for regulatory control of the fisheries under the Fisheries Act. In addition to the delegation of trout enhancement, there are significant provincial roles ranging from licensing inland fisheries to research and management programs for non-anadromous freshwater species.

In the fresh waters of the Nunavut and Northwest Territories and the Yukon North Slope, DFO delivers the federal mandate for fisheries management through the above-noted activities, except for the recreational fisheries agreement noted. Through lands claims agreements, freshwater fishery decision-making responsibilities are shared with legislated co-management boards in much of the territory.

DFO Legislation:

• Fisheries Act and Regulations pursuant to the Act
• Freshwater Fish Marketing Act
• Great Lakes Fishery Convention Act

DFO Policy:

• Policy for Canada's Recreational Fisheries (1986)

Federal Legislation/Formal Agreements:

• Land Claims Settlement Legislation in Quebec, Northwest, Nunavut and Yukon Territories

Protecting the Marine and Freshwater Environment

Fish Habitat Management

National in scope, DFO's Fish Habitat Management program supports the management of fish habitat by developing conditions, positions or advice necessary to protect fish and their habitats from the effects of human activities. Habitat management activities include some or all of:

• the review of all projects that may affect fish and fish habitat
• issuing authorizations under the Fisheries Act
• environmental assessments through the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) process
• compliance monitoring and enforcement
• effectiveness monitoring
• habitat improvement
• public information and education
• integrated resource planning

DFO Legislation:

• Fisheries Act and Regulations pursuant to the Act
• Great Lakes Fishery Convention Act

DFO Policy:

• The DFO Policy for the Management of Fish Habitat establishes the goal of "net gain" and "no net loss" as the guiding principle for fish habitat

Federal Legislation/Formal Agreements:

• International Boundary Waters Treaty Act
• Canada-British Columbia Agreement on the Pacific Salmon Fishery
• Canada-British Columbia Agreement on Environmental Assessment Co-operation
• Canada-British Columbia Agreement on Spill Response
• Canada-Ontario Fisheries Agreement
• Canada-Yukon Accord for Freshwater Fisheries Management
• Canada-USA Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
• Canadian Environmental Assessment Act
• DOE agreement for administration of pollution prevention provisions of Fisheries Act
• Land Claims Settlement Legislation in Quebec, the Northwest, Nunavut and Yukon Territories

Navigable Waters Protection

National in scope, the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) administers and enforces the Navigable Waters Protection Act (NWPA), thereby providing for:

• protection of the public right to navigation;
• regulating interference to navigation created by any work in, on, over, or under a navigable waterway, such as bridges, dams, ferry cables etc. through a construction approval process;
• allowing removal of obstructions to navigation; and
• triggering environmental assessments under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, under specific conditions listed in the Law List Regulations.

DFO Legislation:

• Navigable Waters Protection Act

Environmental Response

The CCG mandate is "to ensure the safe and environmentally responsible use of Canada's waterways, to support understanding and management of ocean resources, to facilitate the use of our waters for shipping, recreation and fishing, and to provide marine expertise in support of Canada's domestic and international interests".

With respect to the safe and environmentally responsible use of Canada's waterways, CCG is the lead agency with the responsibility for ensuring response to mystery spills, offshore spills and for spills north of 60°N latitude. CCG is also responsible for ensuring the thoroughness of industry clean-up operations for ship-source spills, monitoring the effectiveness of the regime and for providing back-up preparedness and response for spills that go beyond industry capability, or if they are unwilling to respond.

The general public, commercial shippers, the fishing industry and other government departments as well as marine trades and industry depend on CCG to play a lead role in ensuring appropriate measures are taken to reduce the adverse effect of pollution incidents on the marine environment. CCG provides expertise and equipment to local and national governments and provides a joint response to international pollution incidents.

Federal Legislation/Formal Agreements:

• Canada Shipping Act
• Canada-United States Joint Marine Pollution Contingency Plan (1998 Revised)
• DOE agreement for the administration of pollution prevention provisions of the Canada Shipping Act
• International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL 73/78)
• International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (1990)

Vessel Screening and Traffic Management

National roles and responsibilities within the freshwater environment that address CCG's goal of ensuring the safe and environmentally responsible use of Canada's waterways safety also include:

• Distress Communications
• Broadcast Services
• Vessel Screening
• Traffic Management

Federal Legislation/Formal Agreements:

• Canada Shipping Act

Introductions and Transfers of Aquatic Organisms

The primary federal responsibility for controlling the introduction and transfer of aquatic organisms (deliberate introductions and transfers: inadvertent introductions are addressed under the following section) rests in the habitat protection provisions of the Fisheries Act and specific regulations made pursuant to the Fisheries Act. These regulations include the Fish Health Protection Regulations and Fishery (General) Regulations. Specific provincial fishery regulations (e.g., Maritimes General Regulations S. 56, Alberta Fishery Regulations), which are made pursuant to the Fisheries Act but which are administered by the provinces, also have provisions for controlling the introduction and transfer of aquatic organisms.

Article 8 of the International Convention on Biological Diversity, ratified by Canada in 1992, identifies preventing the introduction of, controlling or eradicating alien organisms which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species as essential for maintaining bio-diversity.

DFO Legislation:

• Fisheries Act and Regulations pursuant to the Act

Federal Legislation/DFO Formal Agreements:

• International Boundary Waters Treaty Act
• Canada/USA Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
• International Convention on Biological Diversity

Exotic Aquatic Species

Transport Canada Marine Safety provides regulatory input related to the shipboard safety implications of ballast water management and is responsible for compliance monitoring. A memorandum of agreement between Transport Canada and DFO assigns the lead responsibility to DFO for ballast water guidelines, the development of future regulations and ongoing monitoring of the program. CCG has the lead within DFO: Habitat Management has key interests and works with CCG on this subject.

In 1989, Canada adopted guidelines for the control of ballast water discharges from ships for the Great Lakes. These guidelines have since been revised on several occasions. DFO officials serve on an international committee under the International Maritime Organization to prepare new, stricter guidelines. Once finalized, all vessels engaged in international trade will be subject to these new guidelines.

Federal Legislation/DFO Formal Agreements:

• Canada Shipping Act
• International Boundary Waters Treaty Act
• Canada/United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
• International Convention on Biological Diversity

Fish Health

National in scope, DFO provides fish health diagnostic, advisory and consultative services to private and public fish hatcheries, and for fish kills in the wild. DFO roles include provision of the Fish Health Protection Regulations of the Fisheries Act, Fish Health official services (e.g. certification inspections), and administering regional Fish Health protection regulations. The program also administers the Regional Fish Health Policies under the Fisheries General Regulations, and the fish health (quarantine/isolation) aspects of Section 4 finfish transfers.

DFO Legislation:

• Fisheries Act and General Regulations Pursuant to the Act

Federal Legislation and DFO Formal Agreements:

• Regional Fish Health Policies
• Office International des Épizooties (OIE) Aquatic Animal Health Code

Understanding the Oceans and Aquatic Resources

Freshwater Science

The overall mission for DFO Science is to provide timely and reliable scientific information and advice in support of the conservation, protection, and sustainable utilization of Canada's fishery resources and the protection and conservation of aquatic habitat. Information and advice to governments and industry, based on the findings of process-oriented research, support the objectives for resource conservation and protection of aquatic environments. Major areas of freshwater activity include:

• environmental science for habitat conservation, restoration and enhancement
• impacts of toxic chemicals on fish and food chains
• freshwater input to coastal areas as a land based source of pollutants
• effects of nutrients and exotic species on fish communities
• impacts of development on fish and physical fish habitat
• role of physical fish habitat on fish production
• stock assessment and research of diadromous fish species in the Maritime Provinces
• stock assessment of Pacific salmon in freshwater migration and spawning areas
• Arctic freshwater stock assessment and Arctic freshwater stock assessment research

DFO Legislation:

• Fisheries Act and General Regulations pursuant to the Act
• Great Lakes Fishery Convention Act
• Oceans Act

Federal Legislation/DFO Formal Agreements:

• Canada/United States Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement
• Land Claims Settlement Legislation in Quebec, NWT and Yukon Territories
• Memorandum of Understanding with Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta on prioritizing fisheries science activities in the Prairie Provinces
• North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization
• Provincial, national and international agreements and acts to control emissions of pollutants and deposition of acid rain

Maintaining Marine Safety

Canadian Coast Guard

National roles and responsibilities within the freshwater environment that address the CCG's goal of maintaining maritime safety include:

• Boating Safety
• Distress Communications
• Broadcast Services
• Vessel Screening
• Traffic Management
• Icebreaking
• Flood Control
• Marine Emergency Preparedness
• Enforcement
• Receiver of Wrecks

DFO Legislation:

• Oceans Act
• Navigable Waters Protection Act

Federal Legislation/Formal Agreements:

• Canada Shipping Act

Hydrography

The Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) has the mandate to measure and describe the physical features (water depth, bottom morphology, bottom type and composition, tides, water levels, currents and shoreline features) of Canada's navigable waters with special emphasis on elements that affect safe and efficient navigation.

CHS compiles, publishes, updates and maintains accurate charts, sailing directions and other navigational information. These products are continually updated through Notices to Mariners/Shipping and New Editions to incorporate new information. Based on major acquisitions of electronic chart technology by the commercial shipping companies operating in fresh waters, considerable effort and resources have been directed towards the production and maintenance of electronic chart products.

Areas of responsibility for hydrographic surveys and charting in fresh waters include the Great Lakes system and the freshwater portion of the St. Lawrence River, as well as other major inland navigable fresh waters.

Facilitating Maritime Commerce and Ocean Development

CCG Marine Navigation Service

National roles and responsibilities within the freshwater environment that address CCG's goal of facilitating maritime commerce include the control, management and forecast of water-levels in major waterways, and the management and control of ice cover in commercial waterways.

Federal Legislation/Formal Agreements:

• Canada Shipping Act
• United States Coast Guard/Canadian Coast Guard International Treaty for Joint Ice Breaking in the Great Lakes

Small Craft Harbours

The Small Craft Harbours Program operates under the Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act and Regulations. The Program provides a network of safe and publicly accessible harbours serving commercial fishers, charter fishers, and recreational boaters, seasonal and transient alike.

DFO Legislation:

• Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act