Accomplishments

As Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

One of the first projects Geoff undertook as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans was to designate the Sable Gully as a Marine Protected Area. Located offshore of Nova Scotia, near Sable Island, the Gully contains a rich diversity of marine habitats and species, including deep-sea corals and northern bottlenose whales. The Gully is the largest marine canyon in eastern North America and is nationally and globally acknowledged as an important and incomparable marine habitat. The protection of the Gully was both crucial and timely as the surrounding waters had witnessed considerable growth in oil and gas exploration and development. He also helped designate three other areas as Marine Protected Areas. Gilbert Bay, on Labrador’s southeast coast, Basin Head, on the eastern tip of Prince Edward Island and Eastport Peninsula, on the northeast coast of Newfoundland all became Marine Protected Areas during Geoff’s tenure as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans.

During his time as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Geoff was a strong advocate for the elimination of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU). Under Minister Regan, The Department of Fisheries and Oceans made significant investment to expand aerial surveillance and at sea patrols in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) Regulatory Area (NRA). The increase in patrols and surveillance led to reductions in non-compliant behaviour and a decrease of 29% in foreign vessels fishing in the NRA. Minster Regan was also an active member of the High Seas Task Force, an international task force committed to stopping IUU in parts of the ocean not under the exclusive control of sovereign states. In addition to this, Geoff hosted an intergovernmental conference on global overfishing. This meeting held in St. John’s attracted Fisheries and Oceans Ministers from around the world.

Geoff introduced the Oceans Action Plan (OAP) in May 2005. The OAP enabled government-wide action to develop Canada’s ocean resources for the benefit of coastal communities, while protecting fragile marine ecosystems. The OAP was the framework to advance an integrated federal oceans agenda and was a key priority in the DFO’s strategic plan. It recognized that Canada, with almost 245,000 km of coastline, is an important maritime nation.