Is your river vital and valued?

Yesterday’s announcement from Minister Ashfield’s office seems to have signaled that the on-again off-again, now or later, changes to the federal Fisheries Act [that we have blogged about before] are on again, and now.
Let me start with my perspective on the Fisheries Act. In my view, the Fisheries Act is one of the strongest legal and regulatory tools Canadians have to protect fish and their habitat, including the water they depend on. Water that needs to be of a quality that doesn’t poison them. Water that shows up at the right time and in the right quantity to maintain their habitat. This water just happens to be the same stuff that we drink, that we swim in.

© Andrew S. Wright  / WWF-Canada

Is the Act and how it is administered perfect? No. There is plenty of room for improvement. But the intent of the legislation – to protect fish and fish habitat – certainly holds water today more than ever as numbers of endangered fish continue to rise.
So what does yesterday’s announcement mean? In short: we don’t really know. It was vague and light on detail. It does suggest, however, that whatever changes are coming will depend on someone, somewhere, determining if a river, lake, creek, stream or wetland as “vital”, “valued” or “important” for recreation, aboriginal or commercial use.
This begs two questions: What does it take to get on the “list”? And who is making those calls?
Will the list include the Saint John in New Brunswick – the lifeblood of the Minister’s riding, where a once thriving Atlantic salmon run is almost lost. Will the list include Bell’s Creek in rural southern Ontario, where I caught my first fish and would cool off with a swim? Will the Athabasca make the list? Are its whitefish and walleye a valued fishery? What about the hundreds of streams that intersects the route of the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline – streams that feed water into some of the world’s most valued and valuable salmon rivers? Where do they fit in?
Depends who you ask. Which gets to my second question: Who decides? Is it the Minister? Is it scientists in the federal government whose jobs are on the chopping block? What role, if any, will communities and Canada’s world-class scientific experts play?
The announcement clearly indicates that the Minister and his staff will be consulting stakeholders over the coming weeks and months on the details of what changes might come to pass. Let’s hope they take the time to listen to the hundreds of scientists who best know how to protect the water that fish – and humans – depend on.
And let’s hope they take the time to hear from Canadians – because the approach outlined yesterday implies some waters will be written off as ‘un-valuable’. Leaves you wondering what list your creek, river or lake will be on, eh?