DFO’s Application of the Fisheries
Act (and Species at Risk Act) to
Headwater Areas
C.Thomas Hoggarth
Habitat Team Leader
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
February 25, 2011
Fisheries Act
Defines Fish Habitat as:
• “spawning grounds and nursery, rearing,
food supply, migration and any other areas
on which fish depend directly or
indirectly in order to carry out their life
processes”
Risk Management Framework
Steps in making a Risk
Based decision.
1) Do any of our Position
Statements or Operational
Statements Apply
Steps in making a Risk Based decision.
2) Complete a
Pathway of
Affects
Assessment
Steps in making a Risk Based decision.
High
Medium
Low
None
Sensitivity of fish and fish habitat
Rare
3) Bring forward
any Residual
Effects into
Risk Matrix
4) Make decision
And move
forward
Scale of
Negative
Effect
Highly sensitive
Moderately sensitive
Low sensitivity
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Key DFO Points on Headwater Areas
•RMF is DFO’s tool to determine if and/or how the
Fisheries Act applies to development in headwater area.
•This approach is focused on managing negative effects to
Fisheries at the project level.
•RMF can and does acknowledges that Headwaters are
important aspects of aquatic ecosystems and may function
in providing: refuge from extreme temperatures/flow
regimes, competitors, predators and introduced species,
provide spawning sites and rearing areas, sediment
reservoirs and nutrients for downstream fish communities
Concluding Thoughts on Headwater Areas
–There are a myriad of federal, provincial and municipal
statutes, regulations and planning policies that are
relevant to the management of headwater areas
–While the Fisheries Act is a very strong regulatory
tool, its application is limited to circumstances
supported by RMF/sound science.
Concluding Thoughts on Headwater Areas
–As per Ch. 3 of DFO’s Habitat Policy, DFO will use
Integrated Watershed Planning Initiatives to Inform
regulatory decision-making (RMF).
–Acknowledging that the Fisheries Act is not a planning
tool, Watershed & Subwatershed Planning provide an
opportunity to pro-actively protect headwater areas that
may not be otherwise protected via federal, provincial or
municipal regulatory instruments. These efforts also
typically contemplate cumulative effects and multiple
competing values (e.g. fish vs. amphibians).
Concluding Thoughts on Headwater Areas