Abstract
On June 20, 2023, the Honourable Joyce Murray, then Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard and the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, announced the establishment of a Task Force to explore issues and opportunities associated with the deployment of tidal energy projects in the Bay of Fundy, specifically to:
- build on work to date to clarify requirements for fish protection
- improve transparency and methodology of risk assessment and decision making for tidal stream energy device deployments
- reduce turnaround time for regulatory decisions for tidal energy projects in the Bay of Fundy
The Task Force is co-chaired by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). It includes members from the Government of Nova Scotia, industry, and research organizations (see Annex 1).
The Task Force released an Interim Report in September 2023 and committed to releasing a final report that would identify progress achieved and areas considered for future action.
The Task Force held eight meetings in person, a number of working level meetings with various members to support its work, and direct engagement sessions with members of the tidal energy sector, Indigenous groups, and stakeholders. The Task Force visited the Fundy Ocean Research Centre for Energy (FORCE) site in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, where it met with the FORCE Community Liaison Committee, and visited Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where it met with representatives of the commercial fishing industry that operates in the Bay of Fundy, and Indigenous groups. The Task Force also met with tidal energy proponents in Halifax. All other Task Force meetings were held at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. A full list of participants can be found in Annex 2.
This report summarizes progress made and identifies next steps.