DFO- Proposed Focus Area/ Le secteur d'intervention - Regional Assessment of Offshore Wind Development in NL / Évaluation régionale de l'exploitation de l'énergie Éolienne extracôtière à TNL

Hi Catherine,

Following up on our previous email and our discussion with the RA Committee on September 5, 2023, we have one additional comment to provide on the proposed Focus Area. 

• The boundary of the proposed Focus Area overlaps with the Laurentian Channel Marine Protected Area (MPA), as shown in the image below.  Although there is no statement specifically regarding the use of offshore wind development in the regulations for the MPA, there may be potential conflicts with the Federal Marine Protected Areas Protection Standard (2023) (https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwaves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca%2Flibrary-bibliotheque%2F41110353.pdf&data=05%7C01%7COffshoreWindNL-EolienneExtracotiereTNL%40iaac-aeic.gc.ca%7C99c159cce5d746018acd08dbbdeee215%7C35d07687f4f24fbc8b3efa87a26b3b7b%7C0%7C0%7C638312605941886645%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=bYSF8oI6o2vgzwgc%2BS5BNq4KbDoT8oZaGnVSCGQGFbk%3D&reserved=0).  We recommend adjusting the boundary of the proposed Focus Area to ensure it does not overlap with the MPA boundary.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Kim