Ottawa—Agrifood groups seeking changes to a fisheries bill to ensure it doesn't disrupt farm operations across the country have the backing of the Senate fisheries committee.Committee Deputy Chairman Senator Marc Gold of Quebec said the Government Senate Leader Peter Harder and Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson have indicated they are prepared to amend sections of the bill that troubles the farm sector.Wilkinson and Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau will likely be consulting on the issue, he said. “We're now seized with this issue, which you and many others have pointed out causes unintended problems for your sector.” The committee will follow up to make sure changes are made.The issue revolves around a last-minute amendment MPs made to the bill that could lead to puddles in farm fields being classed as fish habitat that farmers would have to leave alone. The farm groups want the legislation clarified to exempt farmers from normal and traditional activities.Gold's comments followed presenting by Fawn Jackson, Senior Manager, Government and International Relations with the Canadian Cattlemen's Association, Erin Gowriluk, Executive Director of Grain Growers of Canada and Frank Annau, the Environment and Science Policy Advisor for the Canadian Federation of Agriculture.Producers have taken many steps to protect land and water habitat on their operations, Jackson said. The bill's definition of fisheries habitat “will place a crippling regulatory burden on family-owned operations in addition to the government staff that would be faced with implementation.”As written, it would “virtually impossible for beef producers to be in compliance with the act,” she said. It would affect irrigation channels, dugouts, floodwater, standing water after rain, and run-off during rain.Environment Canada already considers highway ditches to be fish habitat “and clearly we can't afford to wait to see whether a farmer's reservoir will be next with no suitable means of compliance,” she said.Trying to comply with the law would impose “enormous costs that could coincide with such a process would far outweigh the negligible benefits.”Gowriluk said protecting fish habitat shouldn't “subject farmers to unnecessary regulatory burden or oversight.” Before the amendment, the bill struck a positive balance. The amendment extended the legislation “to any aquatic ecosystem that could sustain fish but under natural circumstances would not be deemed a protected fish habitat.”Farmer-built drainage ditches, reservoirs and irrigation channels are “already subject to provincial regulations that protect water flow,” she said. The legislation “means that a grain farmer would be prohibited from moving a drainage ditch or filling in a reservoir that is no longer needed even if there have never been fish in it.”The government needs to work collaboratively with farm groups to develop codes and best practices, she said.Annau said the amendment to the legislation “broadens the definition of fish habitat to include waters that consist of fish but do not under natural circumstances.” Dominc Leblanc, the former fisheries minister, said that regulations would clearly define agricultural exemptions, farm groups haven't seen them.A 2014 Fisheries Department framework for fish habitat contained provisions to exempt farm activities but that isn't captured in the amendment, Annau said. The government should “fulfill its commitment to clearly define provisions for agricultural exemptions under the regulations and that these exemptions apply to small and routine farm projects.“It is important to state that farmers are stewards of the land and aspire to leave a healthy farming environment for future generations,” he said. The bill threatens the profitability of many farmers.Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.