Fisheries & Other Ocean Users AG Meeting w Committee

Hi Lindsey, 

Your email of February 27 did not indicate where to submit information, so I figured I would email you directly.

As a preliminary matter, the fisheries continue to support the responsible and expedient development of wind in the ocean environment, but reiterate that it must be done in a responsible and collaborative manner. This would certainly include meaningful consultation in this RA process. 

However, we feel that we have not been properly consulted with so far. We only learned about the proposed plan late last Friday afternoon and received a presentation earlier this week. We are in the midst of an incredibly busy time of year in the fisheries and there simply is not enough time to provide meaningful feedback on the proposed plan. What’s more, we still know very little about the methodology in selecting and applying certain decision-making criteria and I have not received any additional information in this respect. To this end, we are not able to provide additional information or commentary as requested. 

Rather, we request further consultation in respect of the methodology that's proposed. In particular, we feel that your constraints analysis can be improved by ensuring that key decision-making criteria under the Impact Assessment Act are properly taken into account, including the commercial fisheries (and the fish habitats on which they rely) and the impacts on indigenous peoples.

The fisheries remain open to collaboration and cooperation in the ocean environment but require meaningful consultation in doing so. We caution against taking expedient actions without consultation now, which might lead to unnecessary slowdowns later.

Sincerely,

Ian McIsaac

SPANS President