2024 to 2025 Activity report: Memorandum of Understanding between: Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator and Fisheries and Oceans Canada
June 2025

On this page

• Context
• Status of the 2024 to 2025 work plan initiatives
  1. Joint priority setting, planning, coordination and administration
  2. Regulatory activities
  3. Incident response and preparedness
  4. Collaborative information exchange
• Status explanation
• Abbreviations
• Approvals

Context

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator (C-NLOER)^{Footnote 1} and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Newfoundland and Labrador Region (updated July 2020) supports and promotes the effective coordination and planning of activities of mutual interest of the C-NLOER and DFO with respect to each entities’ regulatory oversight in the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Area.

The Executive Committee is the principal body responsible for advancing the objectives of the MOU. The committee consists of the Chief Executive Officer of the Board and the Regional Director-General of DFO Newfoundland and Labrador Region. The executive committee oversees the advancement of the MOU on behalf of both parties and approves the annual activity report and the annual work plan developed by the Implementation Committee. The Implementation Committee comprises staff representing the C-NLOER and DFO.

This 2024-2025 activity report describes the areas of collaboration during fiscal year 2024-2025. It focuses on activities and deliverables identified in the 2024-2025 work plan. Most of these activities are conducted each year and are part of the routine, ongoing activities of both the C-NLOER and DFO. Other activities, such as environmental effects monitoring (EEM), are multi-year in nature and can be ongoing for several years. More information has been added to the status updates where key milestones or deliverables have been met and completed or activities were deferred.

Status of the 2024 to 2025 work plan initiatives

Initiative 1: Joint priority setting, planning, coordination and administration

• Lead: C-NLOER, Regional Director General’s (RDG) Office, NL region
  • Activities / deliverables: Regular meetings of the executive committee will continue throughout 2024-25 to discuss priorities and progress of the 2024-2025 work plan.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Complete
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Plan (FFHPP) - Integrated Planning and Partnerships (IPP)
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO and the C-NLOER will make the annual MOU 2024-25 work plan publicly available on the C-NLOER and DFO websites by June 30, 2024.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Complete
    • Yea-end summary: The document has been posted to the DFO and C-NLOER websites.
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO and the C-NLOER will make the 2023-24 activity report publicly available on the C-NLOER and DFO websites by September 30, 2024.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Complete
    • Year-end summary: The document will be posted online once it is signed by both parties.
  • Activities / deliverables: The implementation committee will meet to identify issues/areas requiring collaboration and identification of anticipated projects for inclusion in the 2025-26 work plan.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Complete
  • Activities / deliverables: A joint 2025-2026 work plan will be developed for approval by DFO and the C-NLOER.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Complete

Initiative 2: Regulatory activities

• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - Regulatory Review (RR)
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will advise the C-NLOER on Accord Act Environmental Assessments (EAs), EA amendments, and EA validation reports.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Active
    • Year-end summary: Ongoing
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will advise the C-NLOER and provide information pertaining to proponent compliance with relevant conditions as set out in Federal Impact Assessment (IA)/EA Decision statements and/or the regulations respecting excluded physical activities (NL offshore exploratory wells).
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Active
    • Year-end summary: Ongoing
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will advise the C-NLOER on Environmental Effects Monitoring (EEM) programs for offshore petroleum development projects and revisions to existing EEM plans.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: Reviews of 2022 EEM reports received in Fall 2023 were completed in 2024-25.
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - Species at Risk (SAR)
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will inform and seek input from the C-NLOER regarding the potential listing of marine species on Schedule 1 of SARA.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: DFO informed the C-NLOER of the consultations on the potential listing of Sei Whale on Schedule 1 of SARA.  The C-NLOER responded indicating they have no concerns with the potential listings.

Initiative 3: Incident response and preparedness

• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - FFHPP Integrated Marine Response Planning (IMRP)
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will advise on operator incident avoidance, preparedness, and response planning (e.g., spill response plans, spill impact mitigation assessments, and wildlife plans).
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: No Activity to report during the 2024-25 fiscal year
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will support and advise the C-NLOER during operator-led spill response plan exercises.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: October 11, 2024 - DFO IMRP staff participated in an on-water oil spill containment/recovery exercise as part of exercise synergy 2024 conducted by ExxonMobil
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will support and advise the C-NLOER during environmental incidents.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: No Activity to report during the 2024-25 fiscal year

Initiative 4: Collaborative information exchange

• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - SAR
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will notify the C-NLOER of proposed or final postings of recovery documents on the SARA Public Registry.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - SAR
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will notify the C-NLOER of species-specific public consultations on whether nor not to add the species to the list of wildlife species at risk (Schedule 1) of the SARA
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - Marine Planning and Conservation (MPC)
  • Activities / deliverables: The C-NLOER and DFO will facilitate information exchange through participation on the Regional Oversight Committee on Oceans Management (ROCOM), the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Committee on Oceans Management (C-NLCOM) and associated working groups, which DFO coordinates.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: The C-NLOER participated in two ROCOM meetings and two CNLCOM meeting hosted by DFO. Updates from C-NLOER included the proposed expansion of C-NLOER’s   mandate to include the regulation of offshore renewable energy projects
  • Activities / deliverables: The C-NLOER and DFO will meet as needed to facilitate the exchange of marine spatial planning-related information.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: MPC staff met with the C-NLOER on June 8, 2023, to demonstrate the utility of the Canada Marine Planning Atlas (CMPA) and discuss how their data is being accessed and used. Other meetings were held periodically throughout the year to exchange information.
  • Activities / deliverables: The C-NLOER and DFO will collaborate to ensure that respective marine spatial planning-related data on the Canada Marine Planning Atlas (CMPA) is current and relevant.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: DFO maintained regular communication with C-NLOER to ensure the CMPA reflected the most up-to-date data, including notifications when DFO datasets (e.g., commercial fishing data) were updated. Oil and gas-related data within the CMPA was reviewed, updated, and formatted in consultation with C-NLOER in April 2023.
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO and the C-NLOER will collaborate to develop and implement protocols to operationalize guidance for protecting cold-water corals and sponges from potential impacts relating to exploratory drilling in Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures (OECMs).
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Active
    • Year-end summary: DFO (FFHPP and MPC) continues to work with the C-NLOER to operationalize regional corals guidance.
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - RR/RM
  • Activities / deliverables: The C-NLOER will provide DFO with geophysical, geological, geotechnical, or environmental program “mitigation and monitoring reports” to allow DFO verification of operator conformity with measures outlined in the “Statement of Canadian Practice with respect to the mitigation of seismic sound in the marine environment”.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: There were no seismic programs in 2024/25.
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - FFHPPP
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will consult with and seek input/information from the C-NLOER regarding oil and gas activities associated with potential marine conservation areas in the NL offshore.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: DFO held an engagement session with the C-NLOER regarding potential new marine conservation areas in the Canada-NL Offshore Area in November 2024. C-NLOER also attended the marine spatial planning workshop for the south coast of NL held by DFO in November 2024.
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - Impact Assessment and Major Projects (IAMP)/RM
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will collaborate with the C-NLOER to facilitate the provision of information and/or data for inclusion in semi-annual forecasts and reporting for submission to the NAFO Secretariat, and may include:
    • planned petroleum-related activities in the Canada-NL Offshore Area
    • notification of incidents on the water
    • notification of environmental incidents (e.g., spills and discharges)
    • notification of C-NLOER authorization applications and approvals
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: A semi-annual forecast was provided to DFO in September 2024.
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO will provide the C-NLOER with information and/or data about fishing activities in divisions of the NAFO Regulatory Area (NRA) (i.e., vessel monitoring system data, vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME) closed to fishing activity), requested through the information exchange arrangement, to inform petroleum-related activity planning in the NRA.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO - Science
  • Activities / deliverables: DFO and the C-NLOER will continue collaboration and input into research objectives relevant to the C-NLOER and the petroleum industry.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
    • Year-end summary: DFO continues to update partners, including the C-NLOER on research related to potential seismic effects on groundfish and the preliminary work on abandoned oil wells during presentations to the Environmental Studies Research Fund (ESRF) and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP).
• Lead: C-NLOER, DFO
  • Activities / deliverables: The C-NLOER will communicate with DFO regarding the planned expansion of its mandate to include the regulation of offshore renewable energy development and renaming the Board to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational
  • Activities / deliverables: The C-NLOER will communicate with DFO regarding upcoming fisheries engagement initiatives.
    • Status as of March 31, 2025: Operational

Status explanation

Complete

Work was conducted and completed.

Active

Work was conducted but not completed and will continue next fiscal year.

Operational

Routine, on-going activities of the C-NLOER and DFO.

Deferred

Work was not conducted but will be carried out next fiscal year.

Cancelled

Work was not conducted and will not be carried out next fiscal year.

Abbreviations

CAPP

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers

CMPA

Canada Marine Planning Atlas

C-NLCOM

Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Committee on Oceans Management

C-NLOER

Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator

DFO

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

EA

Environmental Assessments

EEM

Environmental Effects Monitoring

ESRF

Environmental Studies Research Fund

FFHPP

Fish and Fish Habitat Protection Program

IAMP

Impact Assessment and Major Projects

IMRP

Integrated Marine Response Planning

IPP

Integrated Planning and Partnerships

MOU

Memorandum of Understanding

MPC

Marine Planning and Conservation

NAFO

Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization

NRA

NAFO Regulatory Area

OECM

Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measure

RDG

Regional Director General

RM

Resource Management

ROCOM

Regional Oversight Committee on Oceans Management

RR

Regulatory Review

SAR

Species at Risk

SARA

Species at Risk Act

VME

Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems

Approvals

The undersigned approve the annual activities report 2024-2025 as per the "Memorandum of understanding between the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Energy Regulator and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.”