Systemic Problems at Canada's DFO

The Skeena Fisheries Blog has posted excerpts and a link to the Office of the Auditor General Canada and her "2009 Spring Report of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development." The report confirms what critics of the DOF in Canada have been saying for years.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Environment Canada cannot demonstrate that fish habitat is being adequately protected as the Fisheries Act requires. In the 23 years since the Habitat Policy was adopted, many parts of the Policy have been implemented only partially by Fisheries and Oceans Canada or not at all. The Department does not measure habitat loss or gain. It has limited information on the state of fish habitat across Canada—that is, on fish stocks, the amount and quality of fish habitat, contaminants in fish, and overall water quality. Fisheries and Oceans Canada still cannot determine the extent to which it is progressing toward the Policy’s long-term objective of a net gain in fish habitat. There has been little progress since 2001, when we last reported on this matter.

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