Canadian Fisheries Department Lays Out Habitat Protection Policy to Guide Industry

摘要

The Canadian government has published more details on what it expects from proponents of major development projects under a streamlined regulatory process to protect fish and their habitat. But industry and legal experts say the Department of Fisheries and Oceans' new policy on applying the recently amended Fisheries Act still fails to give project proponents full certainty on complying with prohibitions against harming fish and their habitats. Environmental groups, meanwhile, continue to criticize the government's streamlined approach to approvals as giving industry too much leeway on deciding whether a project could potentially cause significant environmental damage.