The Canada Shipping
Act, 2001 is an updated version of the somewhat archaic Canada Shipping Act. Both Acts are intended
to be the primary federal legislation used to regulate shipping in Canada;
however, as of February 2003, the Canada Shipping Act is not yet in force.
Both Acts include provisions related to pollution from ships
and boating, regulation of marine traffic, marine safety, registration of
vessels, ship salvage, etc. The Acts
are also intended to implement Canada’s obligations under the International Convention for the Prevention
of Pollution from Ships (the Marpol Convention) and the International Convention on Oil
Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (the OPRC
Convention).
Under both Acts, responsibilities for dealing with marine
pollution are shared between the Minister of
Transport and the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans. In particular, those sections dealing with
prevention of oil spills and preparedness and response to oil spills are
administered by the Minister of Fisheries and
Oceans.
Protecting Local Waters from boats and ship-pollution.
Regulations under the two Acts have a number of strategic
applications for protection of local habitat:
·
Boating
Restriction Regulation. This
regulation lists bodies of fresh and salt water where marine traffic is
restricted – for instance, all boats are prohibited, horsepower or speed is
restricted, or all boats are prohibited.
·
Pleasure Craft
Sewage Pollution Prevention Regulations. Subject to a few exceptions this regulation requires that any
pleasure craft operating in a body of water listed in regulations may not
discharge sewage. Fourteen BC bodies of water are listed. Most of the areas
listed either lakes in the interior or bays and anchorages in and around the
Georgia Strait and Desolation Sound.
·
Non-Pleasure
Craft Sewage Pollution Prevention Regulations. Subject to a few
exceptions this regulation prohibits any ship in a body of water listed in the
Pleasure Craft Sewage Pollution Prevention Regulations from discharging sewage.
Getting a local nesting area, a vulnerable lake, or an
already polluted bay listed in these regulations can be an important step
communities can realistically achieve to protect the local environment. These provisions have become more important
in recent years due to a court ruling that said the Province could not use
powers under the Wildlife Act to restrict boats in an area of prime
habitat. The court ruled that
restrictions on boating could only be imposed by the federal government. Although stewardship and environmental groups
have been frustrated by a reluctance on the part of the federal Department of
Transport to impose boating restrictions for environmental purposes, the
Department will generally do so where the Province supports the
restriction.
Advisory Councils.
Section 660.10 of the Canada Shipping Act also includes a
unique provision whereby the Commission of the Coast Guard is required to
appoint advisory councils to provide
advise on matters related to prevention of oil spills and response to oil
spills. Councils are to be created for
each of the Pacific, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes
Basin, Atlantic and Arctic. The councils must include persons
who represent affected communities and interests, including the general public
interest. The councils may
report to the Minister or to any standing committee of either House of
Parliament on Fisheries and Oceans or on Environment. (Section 172 of the
new Act includes similar provisions).
Preventing Pollution in all Canadian Waters.
The Acts also include extensive powers aimed at protecting
the marine environment everywhere in Canada from pollution from ships and the
loading of ships. Restrictions of
pollution are subject to ocean dumping permits granted under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act,
1999. The following is a
list of regulations that have been made under the Shipping Act that could be used to protect fish and fish habitat
from marine pollution:
·
Dangerous Bulk Materials Regulations
regulate the safe shipping of dangerous solid materials in bulk, adopting
international rules for storage and handling of dangerous goods.
·
Dangerous
Chemicals and Noxious Liquid Substances Regulations regulate the safe shipping of dangerous
liquids in bulk, adopting international rules for storage and handling of
dangerous goods
·
Dangerous Goods
Shipping Regulations regulate the safe shipping of dangerous goods, other
than those shipped in bulk.
·
Garbage Pollution Prevention
Regulations prohibit disposal of garbage from ships.
·
Oil
Pollution Prevention Regulations impose requirements to prevent discharge
of oil from ships and oil terminals, limits ship discharges of oily mixtures
and impose spill response requirements.
·
Pollutant Discharge Reporting Regulations require vessels discharging waste to report discharges.
·
Pollutant Substances
Regulations prohibit the discharge of specified pollutants.
Environmental groups have been critical of some of these regulations,
arguing, that Canadian standards for cruise ships should be at least equivalent
to those in place in Alaska. This would
include requirements for treatment of sewage, and requirements that sewage only
be dumped when ships are underway and a minimum distance from shore. Transport Canada has proposed negotiation of
a voluntary agreement with cruise ship operators despite compliance problems in
the industry.
·
Navigation and Navigable Waters
·
Oceans
·
Rivers, Streams and Lakes
·
Water Quality
·
Wetlands
·
Shipping
For more information about the Canada Shipping Act:
·
Electronic text of the Canada Shipping Act and
the Canada Shipping
Act, 2001.
·
Transport
Canada web-site.
·
Department
of Transportation Pacific Regional web-site.
·
West Coast Environmental Law Research Foundation, Cruise
Control: Regulating Cruise Ship Pollution on the Pacific Coast of Canada.
