HABITAT MANAGEMENT 33 



freshwater species and sometimes for anadromous fish 

 where its staff observes infractions in the field. 



Federal-Provincial Coordination 



With overlapping constitutional responsibilities and 

 administrative arrangements, effective habitat manage- 

 ment calls for liaison and cooperation between the fed- 

 eral and provincial governments. At the technical and 

 administrative levels and in the field, a great deal of 

 informal cooperation has evolved between the two gov- 

 ernments' agencies. But these working arrangements are 

 not supported by formal agreements, and they sometimes 

 break down, leading to recurrent confrontations over 

 such developments as the pulprrull at Kamloops, log driv- 

 ing on the Stellako River, proposed dams on the Fraser 

 River, estuary projects, and logging operations like the 

 one at Riley Creek. This friction is frustrating for the 

 public officials involved and does not augur well for sys- 

 tematic protection offish habitat. 



Significantly, the Department acknowledged this prob- 

 lem seven years ago in a submission to the Royal Com- 

 mission on Forest Resources of British Columbia, with 

 reference to the referral process. 



The [Fisheries] Service welcomes the opportu- 

 nity to maintain a direct liaison and active 

 participation in this system of integrated 

 resource management. However, critical liai- 

 son procedures are not consistently estab- 

 lished or well defined.^" 



This deficiency persists today. 



Both governments appear to recognize the need to har- 

 monize their approaches to environmental protection and 

 to reduce duplication, confusion and conflict. The main 

 alternatives that have been suggested involve constitu- 

 tional realignment, delegation and a federal-provincial 

 agreement. I have assumed, for the purposes of this 

 inquiry, that the present constitutional division of gov- 

 ernmental responsibilities will prevail, which focuses 

 attention on the other two options. 



Delegation to the province Delegating administrative 

 responsibilities to the province involves lea\ing the law- 

 making power with the federal Parliament while assign- 

 ing to the province the authority for administering the 

 legislation. This is the arrangement under which British 

 Columbia now takes responsibility for freshwater fisher- 

 ies. And authority to administer the federal Fisheries Act 

 in Ontario and Quebec has been formally delegated to 

 those provinces. 



This solution helps to eliminate conflict in administra- 

 tive arrangements, but for habitat management in the 

 Pacific region it raises several problems. First, the prov- 

 ince, with its greater interests in other, conflicting. 



resource industries such as forestry, mining and hydro- 

 electric power, might be inclined to compromise the pro- 

 tection offish habitat. 



Second, the present federal and provincial statutes 

 (especially the federal Fisheries Act and provincial forest 

 legislation) take such divergent approaches to resource 

 management that they are likely to be difficult to admin- 

 ister jointly within the same government. 



Third, as I emphasize in Chapter 4, the Department of 

 Fisheries and Oceans must formulate long-range fisheries 

 plans aimed explicitly at fish-production targets. To meet 

 these, the Department must have direct influence over 

 habitat quality; otherwise, any potential gains in prcxJuc- 

 tion from increased levels of spawner escapement, stock 

 enhancement and other management techniques could be 

 thwarted through eroded habitat. In short, the agency 

 responsible for managing fish should also have authority 

 over fish habitat. 



Federal-proiincia] agreement Reconciling the often 

 conflicting interests and responsiblities of the two govern- 

 ments is a formidable political and administrative prob- 

 lem. But as long as the constitutional division of author- 

 ity remains as it is now, the general direction of needed 

 reform is clear: arrangements must be made to improve 

 intergovernmental coordination. Both governments have 

 a common objective in protecting fish habitat, as repeat- 

 edly indicated in public statements. This common pur- 

 pose is formally declared in their joint Salmonid 

 Enhancement Agreement, of which a main objective is 

 "to preserve, rehabilitate and enhance" natural stocks." 

 Their efibrts must be brought together in a coordinated 

 and efficient way to establish a clear framework with 

 acceptable standards and orderly procedures and to elim- 

 inate duplication of effort and sources of friction. 



Environmental accords have now been entered into by 

 the federal government with all provinces except 

 Newfoundland. Quebec and British Columbia. Through 

 these, the province agrees to enforce environmental 

 requirements (such as pollution control standards) that 

 are at least as stringent as those required under federal 

 regulations. Procedural arrangements are designed to 

 avoid duplication, to enable provincial authorities to be 

 the main channel of communication with the private sec- 

 tor, and to undertake joint programs of research and 

 development. They incidentally offer the federal govern- 

 ment a large degree of flexibility in dealing with various 

 provinces. Each accord can be designed to mesh with 

 provincial environmental protection procedures and 

 tailored to reflect the nature of fisheries resources region- 

 ally. I should stress, however, that my recommendations 

 earlier in this chapter point to the need in this region for 

 a site-specific approach to regulating effluent discharges, 

 instead of the heavy reliance on uniform industry sector 



