SEHAB Roundtable Template––February 2016

SEHAB Member: Leandre Vigneault

Area: Haida Gwaii

Community Advisor: Pat Fairweather

Date: November 5-7, 2016

Key Issues: Habitat work notification, stock assessment and enhancement funding, concern over increased shipping in the north.

What top three points can you distill from community input to take to DFO RHQ?

1. Lack of notifications/oversight for work around streams is leading to more casual attitude towards these activities. It is very easy to find a place for a project to fit within the “Project activities and criteria whereDFO review is not required” and the lack of a mechanism to track work being done near water means DFO does not know how much work is being done near water, if it is impacting fish habitat or even if it is being done in an appropriate timing window. We need to create regulations that require that projects near water provide notification to DFO.
2. Lack of adequate funding for salmon enhancement and stock assessment. Examples: Marie Lake CEDP. “I am running a hatchery on a shoe string budget that hasn’t seen an increase to allow for rising operating costs for several decades. The Marie Lake hatchery is only in existence because I have a crew that is prepared to work for peanuts.” Stock assessment, very limited charter patrol funding and the loss of the patrol vessel as a platform for DFO staff to do enumeration.
3. Concern about Increased shipping on the north coast. This is particularly related to possibility of shipping both oil and LNG but also container and bulk freighters. Concern on Haida Gwaii is focused on the shipping as the impacts to the area would be greatest from a collision and spill but there is also a lot of concern about pipeline and transfer terminal construction and increased rail use.

Stories:

A few examples of successes, failures, challenges.

Successes

Challenges

Issues Specific to SEHAB’s Work Plan:

Submissions, Comments from Groups: