Strategic outcome and program descriptions

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Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Strategic outcome 1

Safe and Secure Waters.

Program 1.1: Fleet Operational Readiness

The Canadian Coast Guard's Fleet Operational Readiness program provides safe and reliable vessels, air cushion vehicles, helicopters, and small craft with professional crews ready to respond to on-water and maritime-related needs. This program involves fleet management and operations, fleet maintenance, and fleet asset procurement. The program ensures that the federal civilian fleet meets the current and emerging needs and priorities of Canadians and Canada. The program supports Coast Guard programs, the Department's science, fisheries, and aquaculture activities, and the activities of other federal departments that need on-water delivery to support their mandates. The Canadian Coast Guard College contributes to the delivery of this program. The legal basis for the program is found in the Constitution Act, 1867, and the Oceans Act.

Program 1.2: Shore-Based Asset Readiness

The Canadian Coast Guard Shore-Based Asset Readiness program ensures that the Canadian Coast Guard's non-fleet assets are available and reliable to support the delivery of Canadian Coast Guard Programs. These non-fleet assets include both fixed and floating aids, such as visual aids (e.g., lighthouses and buoys), aural aids (e.g., fog horns), radar aids (e.g., reflectors and beacons), and long-range marine aids, such as the Differential Global Positioning System, as well as electronic communication and navigation systems and over 300 radio towers. The Shore-Based Asset Readiness program ensures the availability and reliability of these assets through provision of life-cycle investment planning, engineering, acquisition, maintenance, and disposal services. The Canadian Coast Guard College is an important contributor to the delivery of this program. As required, this program is delivered in coordination with Public Works and Government Services Canada. Activities associated with the life-cycle asset management of Canadian Coast Guard shore-based assets are legislated and guided by a number of legal instruments such as the Financial Administration Act and Government Contracts Regulations, as well as policies, directives, and guidelines provided by Treasury Board, Treasury Board Secretariat, Industry Canada, and Public Works and Government Services Canada. The legal basis or authority for this program is found in the Constitution Act, 1867, and the Oceans Act.

Program 1.3: Hydrographic Products and Services

The safe use of Canadian waterways requires knowledge of the physical limitations to navigation. The Canadian Hydrographic Service contributes to safety on Canadian waterways by undertaking hydrographic surveys from primarily Canadian Coast Guard vessels to measure, describe, and chart the physical features of Canada's oceans and navigable inland waters. As Canada's hydrographic authority, the Canadian Hydrographic Service uses these data to produce up-to-date, timely and accurate nautical charts and publications in support of domestic and international marine transportation in accordance with the requirements of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001and the International Maritime Organization's Safety of Life At Sea Convention. In addition to supporting Safe and Secure Waters strategic objectives, hydrographic information is used in a number of research and development applications in engineering, ocean research, maritime security, marine navigation, ocean management, ecosystem science and the renewable and non-renewable energy sectors.

Program 1.4: Search and Rescue Services

The Canadian Coast Guard's maritime Search and Rescue Services program leads, delivers, and maintains preparedness for the 5.3 million square kilometer maritime component of the federal search and rescue system, with the support of stakeholders and partners, including the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Department of National Defence. Through communication, coordination, and the delivery of maritime search and rescue response and operational awareness, the program increases the chances of rescue for people caught in dangerous on-water situations. The Fleet Operational Readiness and Marine Communications and Traffic Services programs are integral contributors to the delivery of the program. The program's legal basis derives from the Constitution Act, 1867, the Oceans Act, and the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.

Program 1.5: Marine Communications and Traffic Services

The Marine Communications and Traffic Services program is delivered by the Canadian Coast Guard. The safety of mariners and marine environmental protection in Canadian waters depend on the efficient and timely communication of information. The program ensures a reliable communication system is available 24 hours a day to contribute to the safety of life at sea, the protection of the marine environment, and the safe and efficient navigation in Canadian waterways. Services include marine distress and general radio communications, broadcasting maritime safety information, screening vessels entering Canadian waters, regulating vessel traffic in selected Canadian waters, providing marine information to other federal departments and agencies, and providing a public correspondence radiotelephone service in areas where mariners don't have access to public telephone systems. The Shore-Based Asset Readiness and Canadian Coast Guard College programs are integral contributors to this program. The legal basis for the program derives from the Constitution Act, 1867, the Oceans Act, and the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.

Program 1.6: Ocean Forecasting

As a maritime nation bordered by three oceans, Canada has an obligation to understand ocean processes and their influence on our environment, ecosystems, and coastal communities. To this end, the Department conducts research, long-term monitoring of key ocean parameters (temperature, sea level, nutrients, tides, salinity, etc.) and manages the resulting data to ensure integrity and accessibility. In turn, the generation of new knowledge allows the Department to provide advice, products and services that support ecosystem management decisions, adaptation to climatic change, emergency preparedness (e.g. tsunami warnings, storm surges), search and rescue, the mitigation of oil spills, and at-sea operations such as fisheries and offshore energy exploration. Clients of the program include the Canadian Coast Guard, other federal government departments and agencies (e.g., Environment Canada, Department of National Defence, Transport Canada, Public Safety Canada), various maritime industries (e.g., commercial shipping, off-shore energy exploration, commercial fishing), the Canadian and international marine science community and Canadians.

Program 1.7: Canadian Coast Guard College

The Canadian Coast Guard College, the Coast Guard's national, bilingual, degree-conferring training institution, educates the marine professionals necessary to deliver programs in support of Coast Guard's mission and mandate in marine safety, security, and environmental protection. Coast Guard's Fleet Operational Readiness, Shore-Based Asset Readiness, Marine Communications and Traffic Services, Search and Rescue, and Environmental Response programs are integral contributors to the delivery of this program. The legal basis for this program is found in the Constitution Act, 1867, and the Oceans Act.

Program 1.8: Maritime Security

The Canadian Coast Guard's Maritime Security Program supports the work of federal departments and agencies with maritime and national security mandates, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Forces, the Canada Border Services Agency, Public Safety Canada, and Transport Canada, by sharing maritime expertise and information and lending vessel support. Fleet Operational Readiness, Marine Communications and Traffic Services, as well as Shore-Based Asset Readiness programs are integral contributors to the delivery of the Maritime Security Program. The program is delivered in coordination with the Department's Compliance and Enforcement program. The legal basis for the support of other federal departments or agencies is found primarily in the Oceans Act.

Strategic outcome 2

Economically Prosperous Maritime Sectors and Fisheries.

Program 2.1: Small Craft Harbours

Under the authority of the Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act and its regulations, the Small Craft Harbours program operates and maintains a national network of harbours in support of the principal and evolving needs of the commercial fishing industry and the broader interests of coastal communities. Investment in small craft harbour infrastructure supports the economic prosperity of Canada's fisheries and maritime sectors and contributes to public safety. The Small Craft Harbours program focuses its resources on keeping fishing harbours that are critical to the commercial fishing industry in good repair. The program is delivered in cooperation with Harbour Authorities, local not-for-profit organizations representing the interests of both commercial fish harvesters and the broader community, who manage the harbours under lease agreements with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. In line with the program's mandate to support the commercial fishing industry, low activity fishing harbours and recreational harbours are divested to third parties. The Small Craft Harbours program is funded through an annual appropriation which includes two transfer payment programs: the Small Craft Harbours Class Grant Program and the Small Craft Harbours Class Contribution Program.

Program 2.2: Integrated Fisheries Management

The Integrated Fisheries Management program administers Canada's fisheries in consultation with Aboriginal groups, federal departments, other levels of government, private industry and non governmental stakeholders. The program promotes sustainability and the allocation of harvestable resources amongst commercial harvesters, recreational anglers, Aboriginal groups, as well as aquaculture for seed, spat1 and broodstock2. It derives authority from the Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act and related regulations and relies on scientific assessments to develop tools such as the Integrated Fisheries Management Plans and Rebuilding Strategies.

Program 2.3: Aboriginal Strategies and Governance

The Aboriginal Strategies and Governance program serves to build and maintain strong and stable relations with Aboriginal groups and promotes fisheries-related economic opportunities for Aboriginal communities; both of which are instrumental to maintaining a stable fisheries management regime with common and transparent rules for all. The program does this by supporting the involvement of Aboriginal groups in the fishery where Fisheries and Oceans Canada manages the fishery and where land claims agreements have not been concluded, specifically for three purposes: management of food, social and ceremonial fisheries; collaborative management, by building the capacity required to engage in fishery management processes; and, conservation, by building monitoring and reporting. This work is achieved through the following: Aboriginal fisheries contribution agreements, treaty fisheries negotiations and mandate development, strategic advice for the ongoing management of Aboriginal rights, Aboriginal programs and policies renewal; allocation policies, frameworks for the implementation of treaties, and, fisheries-related consultation and engagement. This program uses funding from the following transfer payments: Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy, Aboriginal Aquatic Resource and Oceans Management program, Aboriginal Funds for Species at Risk program, Atlantic Integrated Commercial Fisheries Initiative, Pacific Integrated Commercial Fisheries Initiative and Treaty Related Measures.

Program 2.4: Marine Navigation

The Canadian Coast Guard Marine Navigation program provides Canadian and international commercial marine transportation sectors, fishers, and pleasure craft operators with information and services to facilitate the economical and efficient movement of maritime commerce. Program services include providing survey and forecast information on commercial channels to identify water depth, restrictions, or hazards to navigation; dredging services; marine structures to maintain certain ship channel waterways; aids to navigation, for example short-range marine aids such as buoys, fixed aids to navigation, the Differential Global Positioning System, and information to mariners; assistance to vessels stuck in ice; maintaining tracks through ice-infested channels; breaking out ice in commercial and fishing harbours; providing ice routing advice and information and escorting ships in ice-covered waters; and monitoring and breaking up ice jams to prevent flooding on the St. Lawrence River. Program services also contribute to the development of the Arctic by transporting goods and supplies to northern communities and by maintaining a visible Canadian marine presence in the North. The program is delivered in coordination with the Coast Guard's Fleet Operational Readiness and Shore-Based Asset Readiness programs, Canadian Hydrographic Services, Public Works and Government Services Canada, and Environment Canada. The program's legal basis derives from the Constitution Act, 1867; the Oceans Act, 1996; and the Canada Shipping Act, 2001.

Program 2.5: Sustainable Aquaculture Program

The goal of the Sustainable Aquaculture Program is to contribute to an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable Canadian aquaculture sector. Canada's aquaculture sector operates under one of the most stringent regulatory frameworks in the world which is designed to ensure the sector's environmental sustainability. Fisheries and Oceans Canada's regulatory mandate for the program is derived from the Fisheries Act, the Fisheries Development Act, and the Oceans Act. The Department has the lead regulatory role in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island. Fisheries and Oceans Canada implements the Sustainable Aquaculture Program in a horizontal and integrated way with other federal departments and agencies to create optimal conditions for science-based sustainable management of the sector. The Department works collaboratively with industry, provinces and territories, Aboriginal groups, and others to ensure the success and long-term sustainability of Canada's aquaculture sector.

Program 2.6: Salmonid Enhancement Program

The Salmonid Enhancement Program supports achievement of Departmental fisheries management objectives by producing salmon for harvest, stock assessment and conservation purposes. In addition, Salmonid Enhancement Program engages communities, schools, First Nations, and the public in salmon stewardship through education, community involvement activities, and collaborative projects aimed at restoring and maintaining key salmon habitat in British Columbia and the Yukon. The program contributes to economically valuable salmon fisheries by producing fish that directly support Pacific Commercial and Recreational Fisheries. Through targeted enhancement efforts on key stocks, Salmonid Enhancement Program helps Canada meet its enhancement obligations under the Canada United States Pacific Salmon Treaty and supports secure international market access for Canadian salmon products. Salmonid Enhancement Program works closely with the Integrated Fisheries Management Program, the British Columbia Aquaculture Regulatory Program and the Aquatic Animal Health and Biotechnology and Genomics programs. In addition, components of Salmonid Enhancement Program are coordinated with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, as well as provincial, territorial, and municipal governments.

Program 2.7: International Engagement

The International Engagement program ensures access for Canadians to fish resources managed internationally, promotes sustainable fisheries management and healthy global marine ecosystems, and contributes to a stable international trade regime for Canadian fish and seafood products. The program advances its goals via multilateral and bilateral engagements, and coordinated strategies with international partners.

Program 2.8: Aquatic Animal Health

In collaboration with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Department co-delivers Canada's National Aquatic Animal Health Program. The objective of the program is to protect against the introduction or spread of serious infectious diseases of national and international importance, in both wild and cultured aquatic animals. This protection is critical to safeguarding the health of Canada's aquatic resources and both Canada's domestic and export markets for fish and seafood products. In doing so, National Aquatic Animal Health Program provides greater economic stability and potential for growth of the industries and regions that depend on these resources. The Department provides the scientific advice, diagnostic testing and research which inform the certification of aquatic animal health status and support the delivery of federal responsibilities under the Health of Animals Act and the Fisheries Act. The program also supports the delivery of other Fisheries and Oceans Canada programs, such as the Salmon Enhancement Program, Biotechnology and Genomics, and the Sustainable Aquaculture Science Program.

Program 2.9: Biotechnology and Genomics

The Department is responsible for developing the knowledge that is required for the regulation and risk assessment of fish products derived from innovations in biotechnology and genomics. Biotechnology and genomics can provide leading-edge techniques and strategies for the sustainable development of aquatic resources. The Department's use of these tools improves Canada's ability to protect species at risk, manage the opening and closing of fisheries, prosecute poachers, improve aquaculture practices, control disease outbreaks, and remediate contaminated sites.

Program 2.10: Climate Change Adaptation Program

Fisheries and Oceans Canada contributes to the growth and sustainability of numerous maritime sectors and has infrastructure assets in the billions of dollars. It needs to have the capacity to adjust its decisions and activities based on the impact of climate change. The Climate Change Adaptation Program assesses risk, develops science knowledge and adaptation tools, which facilitate the integration of climate change considerations and adaptive management strategies into its decision making. Whether it is managing the fisheries resource, small craft harbours, or marine navigation, decision making must take into account climate change to ensure that Canada continues to benefit socially and economically from its oceans and inland waters. This program is one element of a much larger horizontal program which includes nine federal departments, including Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Program 2.11: Territorial Delineation

The definition and description of Canada's maritime boundaries is reliant on hydrographic data and nautical geodetic expertise. Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Canadian Hydrographic Service and Oceanographic Services is responsible for the provision of hydrographic and nautical data and nautical geodetic expertise. The program's technical experts define the geographic positions for all Canadian offshore maritime limits and boundaries and provide the nautical geodetic evidence to resolve boundary disputes (e.g., Beaufort Sea, Hans Island) and prosecutions related to the violation of international maritime law (e.g., foreign fishing), as well as other infractions in Canadian waters. Through the international recognition of these limits and boundaries, Canada is able to assert its sovereign rights to resources, and to secure its maritime boundaries. Canada ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in 2013 submitted evidence to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (the Commission) in support of the establishment of the outer limits of Canada's continental shelf beyond the current 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone. Canada also submitted a preliminary report indicating that an Arctic submission would be forthcoming after further data collection. The Department works closely in this endeavour with Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada and Natural Resources Canada to prepare the second submission to present and defend Canada's evidence submission to the Commission.

Strategic outcome 3

Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems.

Program 3.1: Compliance and Enforcement

The Compliance and Enforcement program ensures the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's aquatic resources and the protection of species at risk, fish habitat, and oceans. The program is delivered through a regulatory management and enforcement approach, and uses a number of tools to achieve its goals, including promoting compliance with legislation, regulations and management measures through education and shared stewardship; monitoring, control, and surveillance activities; and the management of major cases and special investigations. The National Fisheries Intelligence Service and Program and Operational Readiness sub-programs support the carrying out of enforcement operations. The program works closely with the Ecosystems and Fisheries Management Sector, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, various domestic and international partners including industry, to ensure peaceful and orderly fisheries. It makes a significant contribution, with the Canadian Coast Guard, to the protection of Canadian sovereignty and assists the Department of National Defence with identifying potential marine security threats. It also plays a key administrative role, along with Ecosystems and Fisheries Management, Environment Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, in the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program to help ensure that the public is protected from contaminated fisheries products.

Program 3.2: Fisheries Protection

The Fisheries Protection Program exists to ensure that commercial, recreational and Aboriginal fisheries are productive and sustainable. As part of its core business, the Fisheries Protection Program is responsible for the administration of the fisheries protection provisions of the Fisheries Act including the establishment of guidelines and regulations. The program undertakes the review and authorization of proposed works, undertakings and activities that may affect fish and fish habitat and fulfills its legislative responsibilities in relation to federal environmental assessment regimes and addresses its Section 35 Constitution Act, 1982 duty to consult relative to authorization decisions. The program also provides science-based advice to federal custodial departments to support contaminated site management through the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan. Sustainability and ongoing productivity of commercial, recreational and Aboriginal fisheries is best achieved when partners and stakeholders with a common interest work together to conserve and protect fish and fish habitat. The Fisheries Protection Program has established partnering arrangements with some federal agencies and provinces which allow them to conduct initial reviews of projects, to determine if they require advice or review by the Fisheries Protection Program under the Fisheries Act. The Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program encourages a partnership-based approach through the provision of funding to recreational fisheries and conservation groups to undertake habitat restoration activities. Finally, the Fisheries Protection Program helps to address the issue of aquatic invasive species through federal-provincial/territorial cooperation and the development of regulatory tools to prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic invasive species.

Program 3.3: Oceans Management

The Oceans Management program takes an integrated and evidence-based approach to managing oceans issues and collaborates with other federal departments, other levels of government, Aboriginal groups, and stakeholders. Building on a foundation of science, the program addresses a number of challenges facing Canada's oceans, such as oceans health, marine habitat loss, declining biodiversity and growing demands for access to ocean space and resources. The program gathers, disseminates and considers information on ecological, social and economic impacts to ensure the protection, conservation and sustainable use of Canada's oceans. The legal basis for the program derives from the Oceans Act along with Canada's Oceans Strategy which provides the Department with a framework for managing estuarine, coastal and marine ecosystems.

Program 3.4: Environmental Response Services

The Canadian Coast Guard is the lead federal agency for ensuring an appropriate response to all ship-source and unknown mystery pollution spills in Canadian waters and waters under international agreements. The Environmental Response Services program minimizes the environmental, economic, and public safety impacts of marine pollution incidents. Through the program, the Canadian Coast Guard establishes an appropriate and nationally consistent level of preparedness and response services in Canadian waters; monitors and investigates all reports of marine pollution in Canada in conjunction with other federal departments; and maintains communications with the program's partners, including Transport Canada and Environment Canada, to ensure a consistent coordinated approach to the response to marine pollution incidents. The Coast Guard's Fleet Operational Readiness program contributes to the delivery of this program. The program is delivered in coordination with other federal departments for surveillance information and scientific advice and with ship owners and commercial Response Organizations to support response efforts. The program's legal basis derives from the Oceans Act, the Canada Shipping Act, 2001, and the Constitution Act, 1867.

Program 3.5: Species at Risk

The Species at Risk Act is the federal legislative tool for protecting listed wildlife species at risk. It establishes a process for conducting scientific assessments of the status of wildlife species, by an arm's length organization, and for listing species addressed as extirpated, endangered, threatened and of special concern. The Species at Risk Act also includes provisions for the protection, recovery and conservation of listed wildlife species and their critical habitats and residences. The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans is the competent Minister for all aquatic species at risk in Canada (except those in, or on federal lands administered by Parks Canada). The program is managed according to key principles in the Act, such as stewardship, engagement, consultation, cooperation, compliance, and enforcement. The program is informed by scientific research, social and economic research, and stakeholder and community views. This information then supports the assessment and listing of species; the recovery and protection of listed species at risk through recovery strategies, action plans and management plans; the identification and protection of species' critical habitats; the implementation of recovery measures; and reporting on progress. The Species at Risk Program helps improve the ecological integrity of aquatic ecosystems so that they remain healthy and productive for future generations of Canadians.

Strategic outcome 4

The following program supports all strategic outcomes within this organization.

Program 4.1: Internal Services

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the Federal Government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refer to the activities and resources of ten distinct services that support program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. These services are: Acquisition Management Services, Communications Services, Financial Management Services, Human Resources Management Services, Information Management Services, Information Technology Services, Legal Services, Materiel Management Services, Management and Oversight Services, Real Property Management Services.

Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation

Strategic outcome 1

To regulate interprovincial and export trade in freshwater fish.

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