Canadian legal rewrite may dilute fish protection

A rewrite of Canadian waterways regulations could endanger fish habitats across the country according to a coalition of environmentalist groups.

The groups claim the new version of the Fisheries Act will allow the Canadian federal government to pass the buck for protecting waterways from damage on to provinces, territories or unspecified "other groups".

Campaigners fear this will result in less stringent controls over development which could damage habitats and waterways.

"It's all about the feds dumping regulatory responsibility," Stephen Hazell of conservation organisation Sierra Club told Canoe News.

Environmental assessments at a federal level tend to take a broader look at the impact of any development proposal than their provincial counterparts, he said.

"Most of the provincial environmental assessment regimes aren't worth the paper they're written on."

But Randy Kamp, a Conservative MP leading the call for the changes, said the new bill would still provide effective protection to Canadian waterways.

"It wasn't our goal to make things easy for industry," he said. "We wanted to have an effective but streamlined approach to managing habitat."

The act in its current form tends to bring federal involvement into most large developments in Canada as these will often have at least some impact on waterways.

The original act has been used to bring federal overseers to check into projects, such as the Great Whale hydro project in Quebec and the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories.

© Adfero Ltd