Transcript Document

Presentation on
Sustainability Act
By
Ward Samson (President)
Membership
• NO Membership Fee
• Approximately 20,000
• Affiliated with CWF(Canadian Wildlife
Federation)
• 1962-Present: 44 years seeking
sustainability of our resources.
Affiliate Groups
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CORA(Citizens Outdoor Rights Association)
CAMP(Citizens Against Mandatory Permits)
ORCA(Outdoor Rights Conservation Association)
Newfoundland Rod and Gun Clubs
RRBO(Rural Rights and Boat Owners Association)
NFI (Newfoundland Federation Of Indians)
Highlights of Activities
• Pine Martin Endangered list* Our efforts to
protect species at risk in Canada lead to the
creation of the Committee on the Status of
Endangered Wildlife in Canada
(COSEWIC) in 1977, The first official list
of Canadian endangered species resulted.
NLWF cooperated with C.W.F. to help bring
this about.
Cont’d
• Project WILD, which is used by 50,000
elementary and high school teachers
throughout Canada, in an innovative
approach to teaching wildlife conservation.
It has spawned several complementary
programs including Below Zero,
Sustainability, and Fish Ways. Again, the
C.W.F. was the initiator.
Cont’d
• We have been actively pressuring foreign
governments to stop overfishing in the
northwest Atlantic and are pushing for the
development of an international, legally
binding agreement to manage highly
migratory and straddling fish stocks on the
high seas.
Cont’d
• A paper entitled The Efforts of Forest
Management on Wildlife contains sound,
practical recommendations on how
industries and governments can reduce the
negative effects of forest management on
wildlife and its habitat. The paper is now
part of the curriculum at the Sault College
of Applied Arts and Technology.
Cont’d
• Our national survey on the location and
extent of purple loosestrife infestations
across Canada has aided in research efforts
and reused awareness about the dangerous
implications of exotic species introductions.
Cont’d
• Main River Natural Heritage Site-mandated
the government to court against logging in
this area and WON.
• River Privatization- Organized a province
wide campaign and this concept was put on
the back burner. It is rising again through
the concept of Community Watershed
Management
Three –Mile Limit
• Through extensive research the NLWF
seeks to have the courts decide on the
existence of our Three mile (headland –
headland rule). One judge ruled we were a
colony when we joined confederation. We
disagree and filed an appeal.
Bill 45- Mandatory Trail Permits
• On June 16, 2006 the court will decide if
the NLWF(outdoor rights legal fund) will
have to pay $15,000 as court recovery costs
to have Bill 45 deemed an illegal tax.
NLWF Vision Statement
• -- The N.L.W.F. is an organization
dedicated to the principle that natural
renewable resources are economic, social,
recreational and aesthetic assets that must
be restored, wisely used and perpetuated
for posterity.
Sustainability with Cultural
Integrity
• NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR
• OUTDOOR BILL OF RIGHTS
1.The Legislature of Newfoundland and Labrador
hereby acknowledges, declares and affirms the
ancient and traditional rights of hunting, angling
and the gathering of wild foods by the citizens of
this province and their free and unimpeded access
to public lands for that purpose.
Cont’d
• 2. And the Legislature of Newfoundland
and Labrador acknowledges declares and
affirms these rights of hunting, angling and
the gathering of wild foods as constituting
an inalienable part of the way of life of the
citizens of this Province being part of their
freedom, life, liberty and security of the
person.
Cont’d
• 3)And the Legislature of Newfoundland and
Labrador acknowledges declares and affirms that
the Crown in Right of Newfoundland and the
Legislature of Newfoundland and Labrador hold
the wildlife, fish, game, wild foods and other
natural resources of this province in trust for all
the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Cont’d
• 5.It is hereby acknowledged that the rights
contained in this act are subject to laws for
the purpose of conservation of wildlife, fish,
game, wildfoods and other renewable
natural resources.
Cont’d
• 6.Every law of Newfoundland and Labrador shall,
unless it is expressly declared by an act of the
Legislature of Newfoundland and Labrador that it
shall operate notwithstanding the Newfoundland
and Labrador Outdoor Bill of Rights, be so
construed and applied as not to abrogate, abridge
or infringe or to authorize the abrogation,
abridgement or infringement of any of the rights
or freedoms herein recognized and declared, and
in particular, no law of Newfoundland and
Labrador shall be construed or applied so as to…..
Cont’d
• www.nlwf.ca
Outdoor Bill of Rights
• No sustainability act should be incorporated
without the inclusion of an Outdoor Bill of
rights.
• This was promised by Premier Williams
during last election –it is in the Blue Book.
Discussion of Specific Resources
• Although I would like to discuss specific
resources, we must first focus on the
concept of ecological integrity and that all
species are interconnected and interrelated.
• The management of one species in isolation
can have significant negative impacts on
other species within ecosystem.
Salmon
• Newfoundland must acquire management of
our Atlantic salmon
• We have 92 % of all the Atlantic Salmon
Rivers in eastern North America.
• The Canadian Government closed down
offshore ocean fishery and displaced a user
group.
Cont’d
• This closure was supposed to increase
Salmon stocks- it didn’t happen.
• 2006 –we are currently at biomass levels of
the 1980’s, when the salmon fishery was
opened.Why?
• Foreign overfishing: for example: St.Pierre
Cont’d
• Hook and Release: Two licenses hook and
release and hook and retain as in Quebec
• DFO admits to a 12-25 % mortality of
salmon from Hook and Release
• River Alta study– Norway
• Resolution with CWF
• Not enforceable
Cont’d
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Poaching
Aquaculture- farmed fish in our systems
Rainbow trout: predators of salmon eggs.
Aquaculture tag
Farmed Salmon study- Proposed to DFO
Produce One pound of Salmon-two pounds
of wild fish
Cont’d
• ASF(Atlantic salmon Federation)
• Community watershed Management
• Six Million dollars to Greenland Fisherman
to stop commercial salmon fishery.
Caribou/ Coyote
• Unnatural predator- hybrid (Eastern coyote
and Brown Wolf)
• NLWF,SHAN, NOA- Coyote license after
18 years.-not working at all.
• Caribou on brink of extinction-still very
little in respect to reduction of licenses.
• Needs immediate attention
Cont’d
• NLWF requested a seat on Multistakeholders committee.
• Request denied by Ministers. Why?
• Status of that committee
• Less study more action
• Look to Yukon and Nova Scotia.
Forest Management
• Our priority has been management for fiber
• There is a very limited approach to
Integrated forest Management.
• Creating Protected Areas Builds walls
around our forest
• NLWF has a draft Forest Management Plan
Cont’d
• We are replanting with all spruce because of
Moose predation and industry demands for
fiber
• Very Little will live in a totally spruce forest
• We will have changed the ecosystem in 70
years
Cont’d
• No pesticide spraying
• BTK ( trade secret of the mixture)
• Very cautious with the introduction of new
species
• Renewable resource( habitat destruction for
Moose)
Near shore Fishery
• Newfoundland must have more decision
making ability in the near shore fishery
• Government should support our appeal
court case: Re: Three mile Limit
• A phase out of otter trawling in the near
shore for ground fish
• A return to hook and line fishery and the
cod trap
Cont’d
• A closer monitoring system and a clear
scientific approach to our capelin fishery
• A extensive research approach on the
development of finfish aquaculture- it is not
the panacea
How to Build Cultural Integrity
• Promote and maintain that our resources are
public resources
• No large corporations can own resources
• Communities(Regions) should be allocated
quotas using the adjacency principle
• Create a public awareness campaign
• Build in an education component –Get
Outdoors Program
Cont’d
• Introduce a youth quota system in our
fishery- Norway has this now
• Who will be fishing in 10 years. All of our
youths are leaving…..
• This approach must be consensus building
• Top down approach will not work
• Consistent consultation with groups like
NLWF
Cont’d
• Other provinces with a “sustainability act”
effectively cooperate with wildlife
federations and other groups in their
provinces before any legislation is enacted.
• ….Food fishery in Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and Quebec
Conclusion
• This sustainability act must be inclusive
and not exclusive
• It must have an education component that
promotes our outdoors
• It must include a Bill of Rights-that builds
on cultural integrity.
• This Act must be consensus driven and not
top down
Cont’d
• It must incorporate Ecological Integrity
with Cultural Integrity.
• It must be flexible to incorporate changes in
our ecology that need addressing on a
timely basis