Federal changes to Oceans Act to help protect one-tenth of marine areas by 2020
OTTAWA — The federal government is trying to make it easier to provide interim protection to marine areas, part of a campaign promise to more than double the amount of protected marine areas by the end of this year.
Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc has proposed changes to the Oceans Act to allow temporary protection of marine areas or coastlines for up to five years while the government works towards establishing permanent protection.
LeBlanc also wants to amend the Canada Petroleum Resources Act to prevent oil and gas activities in areas with interim protection, including cancelling existing oil and gas interests and compensating affected companies.
During the 2015 election, the Liberals promised to increase the portion of protected marine areas and coastlines from 1.3 per cent to 5 per cent by the end of 2017, and then to 10 per cent by 2020.