The Federal government has been discussing
making changes to the Fisheries Act lately. Their concern is about missing out
on the “precious resource” during an economic down time, as well as being out
done by smaller coastline countries. The
amendments they would like to make will down play the importance of protecting
fish habitats. The potential changes have many people concerned.
From an environmental stand point not
protecting fish habitats would be a step in the wrong direction, 1960’s kind of
wrong. Change is supposed to be progressive, helping Canada move forward. The
question I ask is according to whom? Big business would say economically,
scientists would say environmentally. Isn’t there a middle ground? I can
understand some regulations and policies within the Fisheries Act may seem
restrictive, but they were made and enforced for a reason. Humans had a narrow
view on what they wanted and “needed”, so providing a law making it illegal to
damage fish habitats forced businesses to slow down, take off their blinders,
look around, and actually think about their actions. Considering every possible
harmful scenario broadens the scope of the human viewpoint. The consequences to
their actions are revealed in broad daylight (most of the time, it is not a
perfect system) and the proper precautions are implemented (hopefully).
By changing the law to only protect “fish
of economic, cultural or ecological value” leaves open many sensitive habitats that
could be damaged in the process of exploiting this “precious resource”. Careful
consideration needs to be taken when making changes to such a sensitive law. It
is my hope that the government will take all necessary precautions as well as
include all interested stakeholders and parties in this decision making process
from now on, not excluding or skimming over stakeholders. Change is good, as
long as we aren’t sacrificing the future to get what we want now. We don’t live
in individual isolated bubbles. We live in a wonderfully complex system. We
need to protect the environment from ourselves. Taken right from the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans – Fisheries Management Decisions page “key practices
for fisheries management in Canada include: environmental sustainability;
economic viability; and the inclusion of stakeholders in decision-making
processes” – I couldn’t have said it better myself, so perhaps stick to it
guys!
For more information check out the
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