GBA 2021 - Spring Update

12 www.georgianbay.ca GBA UPDATE Spring 2021 ED’S ADVOCACY REPORT By Rupert Kindersley, Executive Director Environmental Protections and Planning You will see in the article on page 8 of this UPDATE issue that GBA has been actively monitoring the Ontario government’s actions related to environmental protections and planning and adding our voice where appropriate. This is expected to continue through 2021 and beyond. In particular, there will be a need to work closely with GBA member associations and coastal municipalities to protect Georgian Bay from developments that could threaten our environment. We will also carry on our work on other coastal protection initiatives, including: a review of official plans and bylaws; improvement of septic inspections and management; waste collection facilities compliance; and support for GBA member associations on specific planning issues. Aquaculture In 2021 we hope to continue the productive discussions with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), and the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) in the lead-up to the planned aquaculture license renewals in March 2022. Since my last advocacy report, the following submissions have been made, all of which can be found here: georgianbay.ca/fisheries/cage-aquaculture-issue/ cage-aquaculture-submissions/ ≥ In November: to MNRF on the proposed changes to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to modernize Ontario’s approach to licensing aquaculture, noting major deficiencies in tying these changes into other Ontario aquaculture regulations, environmental sustainability, compliance with license conditions, and an improved public consultation process. ≥ Also in November: to MECP on the proposed project list for comprehensive environmental assessments under the Environmental Assessment Act (EAA), providing a detailed rationale for aquaculture license renewals and new applications to be included on the list. ≥ In January: to DFO, a follow-up to our December 2019 submission on the Aquaculture Act, primarily addressing the specific input requested in the DFO August 2020 discussion paper, but also noting the pressure in British Columbia throughout 2020 to move away from offshore net pen production into onshore operations. There is clear public support for the development/expansion of the aquaculture industry to be onshore in environmentally sustainable facilities, and we demonstrated why this is even more important in freshwater systems. Dock Foam GBA will be launching an easy-to-use letter writing campaign by early February to support MPP Norm Miller’s G BA activity in the last quarter of 2020 and into January 2021 has been dominated by the lead-up, implementation and follow-up to the water levels web symposium in October (see the cover story in this UPDATE edition), but there was also action on a number of other fronts and I have highlighted the main issues below. Photo: K. Hille Meeker’s Aquaculture, Lake Wolsey, North Channel.