NCSA C.E.C. Submission accepted

In 2009, the NCSA took advantage of a lesser known route to attack the poor performance of the Department of Fisheries & Oceans in managing commercial fisheries. The NCSA made a submission to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation. This organisation is an offshoot of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement).

In our submission to the Commission, we asserted the Dept. of Fisheries & Oceans is allowing commercial fishermen to ignore license conditions "..aimed at protecting and conserving certain kinds of fish (steelhead).."

The link provides a full description of our submission and assertions against the DFO. The Dept now has 30 days to provide a response to the Commission.

It is interesting to note several environmental groups have submissions before the Commission, some also lodged against DFO, for neglecting to enforce regulations against pollution or habitat degradation. An example, is this one about oil sands tailings ponds in Alberta

So while we admit this is a bit of an esoteric route to lobby DFO, it is one of some significance as the Dept. is required to provide a response to the Commission. This cannot be sloughed off or ignored.
And in these times where DFO chooses to wilfully ignore things, such as thousands of concerned citizen's signatures on petitions against fish farms, we feel completely justified in using this approach. The CEC submission is another strong arrow in the quiver of the NCSA.

Obviously, we will provide updates on the response from the DFO.