NOVA SCOTIA GOVERNMENT SEEMS OUT-OF-TOUCH ON MARINE PROTECTED AREAS

Published on May 07 2018

Photo credit: CBC

I’ve been involved with the environmental community in Nova Scotia for more than 20 years, so I’ve seen a lot in my time. Not much surprises me anymore.

But, I must admit, reading through this article posted on the CBC Nova Scotia website was jaw-dropping. The Premier of Nova Scotia makes two extraordinary claims here directed at the federal government.

So, let’s take a closer look at these claims.These include, 1) the NS government has not been consulted about marine protected areas (MPAs), and 2) the federal government is NOT using science to guide its decision making. In diplomatic circles, these are incredible allegations. Absolutely devastating, if true. Yet, these allegations are also easily refuted, if the federal government chooses to do so. I hope they will.

NS government not being consulted??

This is what is said in the CBC article:

“He also used the occasion to chastise the federal Fisheries Department for not consulting first with the province before designating areas as possible protected areas. “I can tell you I was not part of that conversation,” he told the committee. “We could have been an ally. I could be an ally for them, for this panel and for the government.”

I’m really surprised by these comments. The work to establish marine protected areas in Nova Scotia goes back many years and for the Nova Scotia government to claim that it has not been consulted is really quite an extraordinary accusation. It’s also rather confusing.

You see, I’ve been involved with many of the discussions about MPAs in Nova Scotia, and representatives from the provincial government keep popping up at those meetings. For the process to establish St. Anns Bank MPA, the Nova Scotia government was a full participant on the advisory committee that was advising DFO. That process resulted in consensus recommendations about the proposed MPA boundary, zonations, and allowable activities. The Nova Scotia government was not just consulted, but it was an active participant in those discussions. That is recorded within the official Canada Gazette publications found here, which states the following about consulting the NS government: “additional bilateral consultations with the Province of Nova Scotia, First Nations, and the fishing industry were also held over this period.” They then go on to summarize the NS government position from those consultations.

Similarly, CPAWS-NS receives occasional updates from DFO about the MPA establishment process and we’ve found DFO to be very forthcoming with information. As part of those official briefings, DFO will often be transparent and indicate who else they are meeting with about the same topic and it’s been made quite clear to us that DFO has reached out to the NS government on multiple occasions over an extended period of time about the pending MPA plans. It’s possible (probable) that the NS government didn’t like the information that it received – we know that the province wants to open up MPAs to oil and gas exploration– but not liking something and not being consulted are two very different things.

Also, take a look at this. In this other recent CBC article, the Nova Scotia Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture makes a very specific claim about the pending marine protected areas.

“They have proposed areas of up to 25, almost 26 per cent of all oceans and coastal waters around Nova Scotia. That is a large number, a very large number.”

This quote from the Premier’s own Minister suggests that consultations have indeed taken place between the federal government and the Nova Scotia government about MPAs even though that plan has not yet been released publicly. The Minister says “25, almost 26 percent”, which implies to me that they were briefed to the decimal place about the MPAs; somewhere between 25 and 26, but closer to 26 than 25. How can I reconcile that statement with the claim by the NS government that it has not been consulted? I can’t.

This all sounds more like a problem that’s internal to the Nova Scotia government than one about lack of consultation. If the Premier is not receiving key pieces of information from his departments about the MPA planning process, that’s a concern. But that’s not the problem of DFO and it by no means implies that consultations have not taken place.

The provincial Department of Environment used to be the lead agency for MPAs for the Nova Scotia government, but in recent years that responsibility was moved to the provincial Department of Energy. That’s a curious shuffling indeed, since it means that the department with the most expertise in creating and managing protected areas is not directly reporting to key decision makers internally within government. That’s now the responsibility of a department that also has a mandate to work on oil and gas issues. Perhaps Nova Scotia Environment should be put back in charge and become the lead provincial agency on MPAs again. Maybe then, the Premier’s office would have better access to the information that’s guiding the MPA planning process by the federal government.

I presume DFO has a full record of all the meetings they’ve held with NS government officials, as well as multi-stakeholder meetings where NS government officials were participants. I hope DFO will release that information to set the record straight. It’s much easier for the federal government to prove that those meetings took place than for the Nova Scotia government to prove that they didn’t. That’s just simple logic. And the sooner that happens, the better.

DFO not basing decisions on science, research, or fact??

This is what is said in the CBC article:

“To date, we are not seeing decisions based on science, research or fact,” he told the group during his eight-minute prepared speech. “If the decisions are not going to be based on science, it begs the question, ‘On what will they be based?'” 

As with the claim about lack of consultation, I’m also quite surprised to read this statement as well. The marine spatial planning that is underway by DFO is absolutely based on science. And it’s an interesting read. As part of the lead-up to the release of the proposed MPA network plan, CPAWS-NS has been briefed on the science that supports this plan. Many others would also have been briefed, including First Nations, the NS government, the fishing sector, and other ENGOs. DFO is pulling together datasets that go back decades to understand which areas should be selected and how the MPA network plan can be optimized to minimize impacts on the fishing industry while maximizing the conservation benefit. There is detailed and rigorous planning that has been undertaken and it is absolutely based on science. DFO has even put this science through a peer-review process through the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) and opened-up that process to participation from lots of different people. Yes, I was there, and so too were provincial government representatives. We chatted on the coffee breaks. We had lunch together. We talked about sciency stuff, like what attributes should be included in the models and what targets are needed to represent specific conservation features. The NS government is recorded in those proceedings as a participant. Once again, if this science is not filtering up to the Premier’s Office, that’s a concern, but it’s a problem that’s internal to the NS government and not a reflection of the science being used by DFO in the MPA design process.

While we are on the topic of science, the science is actually pretty clear that our oceans are in trouble (from climate change to overfishing to declining biodiversity to pollution). The science is also pretty clear that nations need to establish effective networks of MPAs to protect biodiversity and to support effective fisheries. That’s why Canada has signed onto the target to protect at least 10% of our ocean by the year 2020 as part of our international obligations. Finding the science that says drilling for oil and gas in MPAs is a good thing for ocean protection is a little harder to find, but apparently the NS government has found it, because if they’re not using science to support their decision-making, it begs the question, on what are they basing such decisions?

~By: Chris Miller, Ph.D.