Fish Habitat Compensation
Fish habitat compensation (offsets) can provide a means to enable development related activities and development projects to proceed, while hopefully ensuring that the capacity of fish habitats to produce fish suitable for human consumption is maintained.
Users of FishHabitatNexus.com are asked to submit examples of fish habitat compensation measures to the website to facilitate continual improvement across the discipline.
In Canada, under the DFO Policy for the Management of Fish Habitat (Habitat Policy), each time the "harmful alteration, disruption or destruction" (HADD) of fish habitat is Authorized under the federal Fisheries Act, there is a requirement for compensation to replace the capacity of the lost habitat to produce fish. DFO has developed a Practitioner's Guide to Habitat Compensation to help habitat management practitioners when habitat compensation is required to meet the No Net Loss Principle of the DFO Habitat Policy.
In the U.S., similar provisions exist with respect to species at risk and Essential Fish Habitat (EFH).
In Canada, examples of fish habitat compensation include:
- HADD Compensation Project - Restoration of Cantley Creek Fish Habitat under the Atlantic Coastal Action Program - Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
- Lower Cheakamus River Habitat Compensation, B.C.
Samis, S.C., Birtwell, I.K. and Khan, N.Y. 2005. Commentary on the Management of Fish Habitat in Northern Canada: Information Requirements and Policy Considerations Regarding Diamond, Oil Sands and Placer Mining - Summary Report. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Science Branch, Pacific Region, West Vancouver, B.C.
Harper, D.J. and J.T. Quigley. 2005. A comparison of the areal extent of fish habitat gains and losses associated with selected compensation projects in Canada. American Fisheries Society, Volume 30, Issue 2 (February 2005).
Alaska
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