Cottage and Land Owners

As a cottage or land owner, you should be aware of federal requirements that may affect the way you choose to build or modify your cottage or property. Under the Fisheries Act, no one may carry out any work in or near Canadian waters that will result in the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat, without authorization from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

As part of DFO’s work, the Habitat Management branch reviews projects to evaluate the potential for impact on fish habitat. In some cases, there can be some very significant impacts to fish habitat, particularly along shorelines where spawning and rearing habitats are most at risk.

In order to assist landowners, DFO has developed some guidelines (termed Operational Statements) that provide cottage owners and other developers with techniques that will allow projects to proceed without affecting fish habitat and without requiring a Fisheries Act authorization. These guidelines pertain only to federal requirements; additional provincial or municipal approvals or permits may be required.

The most frequently used Operational Statements by cottagers are:

• aquatic vegetation removal;
• beach creation;
• dock and boathouse construction;
• moorings;
• public beach maintenance; and
• routine maintenance dredging.

In some cases, the cottage project being considered can avoid impacts to fish habitat by simply changing the location of the project (can your boathouse be moved to avoid a spawning bed?), the timing (can you conduct the work in June, instead of September to avoid a critical spawning period for a local fish species?) or the design (will a floating dock suffice instead of a crib dock?). Other minor adjustments can also go a long way to meeting your project goals while avoiding harmful impact to the local fish population.

• Operational Statements, Reviews and Authorizations
• Alberta
• Manitoba
• Northwest Territories
• Nunavut
• Ontario
• Saskatchewan
  

Prairies Area

• Working Around Water? Factsheet Series
  (Alberta Edition)
• Working Around Water? Factsheet Series
  (Saskatchewan Edition)
• Working Around Water? Factsheet Series
  (Manitoba Edition)
• The Dock Primer (Prairies Edition)
  (PDF Version, 986 Kb)*
• The Shore Primer (Prairies Edition)
  (PDF Version, 1.34 Mb)*
• The Fish Habitat Primer (Prairies Edition)
  (PDF Version, 1.34 Mb)*

Ontario-Great Lakes Area

• Working Around Water Fact Sheets (Ontario Edition)
• The Fish Habitat Primer (Ontario Edition)
  (PDF Version, 1.21 Mb)*
• The Dock Primer (Ontario Edition)
  (PDF Version, 1.15 Mb)*
• The Shore Primer (Ontario Edition)
  (PDF Version, 1.53 Mb)*
• The Baitfish Primer (Ontario Edition)
  (PDF Version, 2.90 Mb)*
• The Drain Primer (Ontario Edition)
  (PDF Version, 1.37 Mb)*
• Ontario-Great Lakes Area Fish Fact Sheets

Water Levels

• Overview
• Contacts
• Questions or Need Information?
• Water Level Links
   

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