February 16, 2010 Small Craft Harbours Program Northwest Atlantic Ocean Climate Change and Impacts Information Exchange

2 Outline of Presentation  Program Overview  Harbour Distribution  Key Program Strategies  Climate Change Overview  Climate Change Effects  Indirect Impacts  Strategies  Missing Information  Past Efforts  Current Initiatives  Key Objectives of the Study  Conclusion Miminegash, Prince Edward Island

3 Program Overview  Mandated under the Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act (1978), the Small Craft Harbours (SCH) Program is committed to keep DFO-owned harbours that are critical to the fishing industry open and in good repair.  SCH has 758 core fishing harbours, 224 non-core fishing harbours, and 184 recreational harbours for a total of 1166 harbour sites across Canada with individual assets numbering over 7,000 structural facilities.  Asset inventory of core fishing harbours exceeds $2.5B in replacement value.  Approximately 90% of commercial fish harvesters use, and 80% of Canada’s commercial fish landings occur at SCH harbours.  There are 319 SCH harbours in the Maritimes Provinces including 286 core fishing harbours.  Fishing harbours in the Maritimes vary in size and services and located in a variety of coastal settings – most SCH harbours are relatively small and located in rural communities.

4 Core harbours 758 Non-core & Recreational harbours 408 Total 1166 Pacific Central & Arctic Quebec Maritimes & Gulf Newfoundland & Labrador Harbour Distribution

5 Small Craft Harbours Large and Small Centreville, Newfoundland and LabradorMiddle Bay, Quebec Little Grindstone, Manitoba Port Alberni, British Columbia

6 SCH’s objective of keeping harbours that are critical to the commercial fishing industry open and in good repair is pursued through three key strategies:  Maintain a network of core fishing harbours (currently 286 in M&G);  Promote and sustain the use of Harbour Authorities (HAs) for the local management and operation of all core fishing harbours;  Divest recreational and non-core fishing harbours by: –Transferring all recreational harbours and low-activity fishing harbours to local communities; –Eliminating derelict harbours. Key Program Strategies

7 Climate Change Overview In Atlantic Canada, changing climate will result in more storm events, increasing storm intensity, rising sea level, higher storm surges, and more coastal erosion and flooding, affecting coastal communities and their infrastructure and industries (NRCAN)

8 Climate Change Effects Effects of climate change could cause direct physical damage to SCH’s infrastructure, for example:  Increased incidence of storm surges, extreme weather events and associated wave energy can directly damage infrastructure;  Sea-level rise in some regions (e.g. Nova Scotia, PEI, and southeastern New Brunswick) can lead to the need to adjust infrastructure, and can exacerbate the effect of increased wave energy;  Lack of ice cover in the Gulf will result in more coastal erosion and increased longshore sediment transport and channel infilling;  Fluctuating water levels increase the requirement to adjust the height of wharves; and,  Tidal surges will result is the need to reinforce existing infrastructure to withstand storm generated waves and ice dynamics.

9 Indirect Impacts  The indirect impacts of climate change are related to ecosystem effects and changes in fishing patterns.  The SCH network of harbours is currently positioned to support commercial fisheries that have been relatively stable and predictable in terms of such aspects as vessel size and activity.  Changes to fishing patterns and associated fishing plans could have a major effect on SCH's long-term plans and priorities related to the provision of its harbour infrastructure.

10 Retreat or Relocation Strategy  A retreat strategy recognizes that some coastal areas are too hazardous to continue to maintain and develop harbour facilities, and as such should be abandoned over time and the fleet relocated.  While this may be deemed to be cost-effective in the long run, the major disadvantage with this strategy is that it is often not economical or politically feasible to carry out.

11 Retreat or Relocation Strategy Maces Bay, NB Little Grindstone, Manitoba Port Alberni, British Columbia Maces Bay, NB Boynes Cove, NB

12 Protection Strategy  A protection strategy involves the use of natural or engineered protection structures to reinforce property and infrastructure for the effects of erosion, flooding and storm-induced damage.  While this strategy is ideal along coastlines with high density development, it has many disadvantages associated with it.  Unlike a retreat/relocation strategy, it does not eliminate the threat to public safety and infrastructure damage.  Protection structures can prevent the inland migration of salt marshes, beaches and other coastal features, a process that is essential for these features to adapt to sea-level rise.  Although coastal protection can be a relatively cost effective option in the short term, there are often high maintenance costs associated with protection structures in the longer term.

13 Protection Strategy Maces Bay, NB Little Grindstone, Manitoba Port Alberni, British Columbia

14 Adaptation Strategy  An adaptation strategy involves allowing the current land-use practices to continue by taking measures such as raising the elevation of existing structures and developing systems for public safety.  There are many disadvantages associated with this strategy, however given the environmental setting of the SCH harbours; in many cases it will remain the most feasible option, at least for the short term.

15 Missing Information SCH is also missing information on coastal areas which are most vulnerable to the synergistic effects of rising sea levels and extreme weather events such as but not limited to:  tidal surges  hurricanes  Increased water temperatures and decreased formation of sea ice  coastal erosion rates

16 Past Efforts  SCH made application in 2005 to Environment Canada for funding for a study to assess climate change impacts and adaptive strategies for its coastal infrastructure in Atlantic Canada.  The purpose of this initiative was to provide policy- makers, regulators, government and community planners, engineers, emergency responders and the public with:  up-to-date coastal ocean climates and statistical estimates (extremes, return periods) of environmental forces on coastlines and coastal infrastructure in selected areas,  projections for combined loadings of various forces under climate change scenarios, and  information and tools for risk assessment on coastal infrastructure and zones.  The application for the project was not accepted.

17 Current Initiatives  In September 2008, DMC endorsed climate change impacts and adaptation as a policy priority.  For SCH, adaptation can be proactive or reactive. A proactive approach aims to reduce the exposure to future risks, for example by avoiding harbour development in flood-prone or high exposure areas; a reactive approach only addresses impacts once they have occurred, for instance by providing emergency funding to repair facilities damaged by extreme weather events.  SCH will be conducting a Climate Change Vulnerability/Adaptation Study to adapt proactively to climate change impacts and incorporate climate change considerations into its decision-making and management of its infrastructure.

18 Key Objectives of the Study  Increase the understanding of the future impacts of climate change relevant to SCH and identify the specific risks, vulnerabilities to the program, and opportunities from an infrastructure perspective.  Substantiate infrastructure-related risks identified in the 2005 Climate Change Risk Assessment for DFO (Interis Report).  Identify potentially vulnerable geographic areas within the SCH asset portfolio and expected climate change impacts for that area such as but not limited to rising sea levels, reduced formation of sea ice and extreme weather events.  Facilitate the incorporation of climate change considerations into the management of SCH infrastructure and the environmental assessment process.  Allow SCH to take a proactive approach and begin to incorporate climate change issues into SCH long-term capital planning and life-cycle management.  Assist with the development of regional/area studies and identify current information gaps and use this to help identify future climate change areas of research/study for SCH as appropriate.

19 Conclusion  SCH is seeking to develop an overall management strategy to deal with the effects of climate change on its marine infrastructure and by extension to minimize the resultant damage to local economies dependant upon harbour infrastructure for commercial fishing, aquaculture, sea-plant harvesting, safety and transportation.  The expected results of a strategy would help determine vulnerable harbours and infrastructure assets, as well as to provide an assessment of the viability of refurbishing the existing infrastructure, versus replacement, or relocation of the harbour, and conduct an analysis of existing infrastructure design to determine optimal harbour design and construction materials.

20 End