Species at Risk Act annual report for 2018: chapter 6

6. Enforcement

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Parks Canada Agency (PCA) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) work jointly and in partnership with Indigenous, provincial, territorial and international authorities to protect Species at Risk Act (SARA)-listed species and their critical habitat.

In 2018, ECCC focused on two enforcement priorities:

ECCC is responsible for recovery planning for 334 species out of 531 species under SARA (491 of which are protected by the prohibitions). Prohibitions, emergency protection orders and permit conditions are enforced throughout Canada in the case of migratory birds, and for terrestrial species on federal lands with, a special focus in ECCC’s 146 protected areas (National Wildlife Areas and Migratory Bird Sanctuaries).

ECCC operated with 57 front line Wildlife Enforcement Officers and 15 intelligence staff to ensure compliance with SARA, as well as related conservation statutes: the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 (MBCA), the Canada Wildlife Act, the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act (WAPPRIITA) and the provisions of the Antarctic Environmental Protection Act concerning wildlife.

ECCC enforcement officers patrol National Wildlife Areas, Migratory Bird Sanctuaries and other lands to ensure compliance with SARA. The protection of these habitats, which include critical habitat identified in SARA recovery strategies, is important given that these habitats are deemed necessary for the conservation, recovery and survival of species.

Enforcement coastal patrols and multi-agency blitz operations target areas with a high level of human wildlife interaction in order to prevent and deter illegal activities disrupting the habitat of these species, as well as to educate and engage the public. This approach has proved to be largely successful in helping to protect SARA-listed species while collaborating with other government organizations and local communities.

Recognizing that illegal activity involving the destruction of listed plant or animal specimens impedes its conservation, ECCC has focused its compliance and promotion activities on preventing crimes that harm species. While this report speaks to actions taken under SARA, ECCC relies on other laws to protect species at risk before the prohibitions in SARA apply. This involves proactive activities under other legislation but focused on species of special concern, which are not subject to SARA prohibitions. For example, patrols to verify compliance and provide deterrence and crime prevention in protected areas (i.e. Long Point) and critical habitats (i.e. Roseate Tern) where several SARA species are found, and inspecting and clearing regulated goods at border ports for Canadian SARA protected species found in trade (i.e. wild American Ginseng, Polar Bear, Spotted Turtle). So while this report captures the enforcement activities proper to SARA, it is not necessarily indicative of all work undertaken to protect species at risk.

Refresher courses on the Polar Bear 3-pronged approach for tracking Polar Bear hides were offered in Goose Bay, Labrador on March 15, 2018, and another one in Nain, Labrador in June 2018. This helped northern communities in Labrador to continue supporting compliance in harvest and trade of Polar Bears. Communities in Labrador and Nunavut used the Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT) to tag the harvested hides, and collect samples for DNA and stable isotope analyses (SIA), which were sent to laboratories. The implementation of this approach involved partnership with territorial and provincial jurisdictions, engagement with local stakeholders and communities, and training of jurisdictional conservation officers and ECCC wildlife enforcement officers.

ECCC conducted 208 inspections under SARA in 2018. About 90% of the inspections concerned Canadian species at high risk for conservation loss or at high risk for non-compliance and 10% were related to habitats or protected areas at high risk for conservation loss or at high risk for non-compliance. Inspections focused on enforcing the emergency protection order which came into force in July 2016 for the protection of the Western Chorus Frog in Quebec (Great Lakes/St. Lawrence – Canadian Shield population). Inspections also focused on Blanding’s Turtle, Bank Swallow, American Ginseng as well as Piping Plovers and their critical habitat in Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario regions.

As a result of these inspections, 21 violations of SARA were recorded. Several warnings and tickets, totalling almost $2,400, were issued to address non-compliance due to potential nest destruction of Bank Swallow and Piping Plovers. Four new investigation files were opened in 2018. In 2018, there were no prosecutions and no court convictions by ECCC under SARA.

DFO’s enforcement actions for aquatic species at risk are carried out by fishery officers who have been trained and designated as enforcement officers under SARA and who incorporate SARA enforcement activities alongside their duties under the Fisheries Act and other federal statutes and regulations.

In 2018, the Department’s fishery officers dedicated over 20,000 hours to patrols, inspections, investigations, court cases, public relations and other duties related to enforcing the prohibitions of SARA. The Department recorded a total of 117 investigations and spent over 2,500 hours on investigative work related to aquatic species at risk. The Department recorded a total of 41 SARA violations involving aquatic species at risk that resulted in fines, seizures, charges and warnings.

Training sessions were organized across the country to teach fishery officers how to assist trained experts in a support capacity during large marine mammal disentanglement response. DFO’s capacity to respond to marine mammal occurrences involving species at risk significantly increased in the Pacific region in 2018, as 38 fishery officers were trained in Disentanglement Level 1 (satellite tagging) and another 73 were trained in Cetacean Live Stranding.

In August 2018, fishery officers acted in a supporting capacity to our external partner, the Campobello Whale Rescue Team, to aid in the successful disentanglement of a North Atlantic Right Whale. Officers from three different detachments, the Conservation and Protection aerial surveillance program, Canadian Coast Guard, and external partners were all involved in the search for, and disentanglement of the whale.

From April to September 2018, DFO undertook extensive aerial and vessel surveillance for Right Whales searching for whales and patrolling fisheries closures specific to North Atlantic Right Whale mitigation strategies.

PCA’s Law Enforcement Branch is responsible for enforcing all legislation related to the Agency’s mandate, including SARA, on all lands and waters administered by the Agency. In 2018, there were 82 operational park wardens dedicated to law enforcement activities in PCA protected heritage areas. PCA’s SARA-related enforcement activities included targeted patrols and investigations of reported violations of the SARA prohibitions. Park wardens recorded a total of 47 law enforcement incidents related to the protection of species at risk in protected heritage areas. These incidents led park wardens to issue 1 warning under SARA as well as to lay 3 charges and to issue 29 warnings under other legislation.