OTTAWA - There were some things the federal government just didn't want to talk about during the Gulf of Mexico oil spill -- like what if it happened here.

Newly released documents reveal that officials advised Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis to avoid talking with two provincial counterparts about the effects of a big oil spill off the coast of Newfoundland.

But the Natural Resources Department says the document was not given to Paradis and should not have been released under an access-to-information request for the minister's briefing notes on the Gulf blowout.

A document obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act advises that it would be "risky" to discuss the scenario. It was prepared ahead of discussions with Nova Scotia Energy Minister Bill Estabrooks and Kathy Dunderdale, natural resources minister for Newfoundland and Labrador.

The document describes the potential fallout from a large oil spill off Newfoundland's eastern coast, including damage to the fishing industry and the deaths of many sea birds.

Under the heading "Fate and effects of a major offshore spill in N.L." is a warning to Paradis.

"The points in this section are, of necessity, very general statements and therefore must be considered 'risky,' " the document says. "Ideally, speculation of this topic should be avoided."

"In the event it is unavoidable, read on..."

The document says a "non-trivial" spill could leave oil in the water for weeks or months and much of it likely wouldn't be recovered. But little-to-no oil would likely wash up on Newfoundland's shores, and most of it would drift eastward and disperse in the Atlantic Ocean.

Sea birds might not be so lucky. The document says "it is likely that oil from a large blowout offshore eastern N.L. would cause substantial and significant seabird mortality, due to these species' extreme vulnerability to surface oiling."

The document says fish would probably be safe from a major spill, but a blowout could hurt the region's fishing industry.

"Any fishing activity in or around the vicinity of spilled oil would have to be suspended for whatever period that oil persisted in the area, due to the potential for gear and/or catch to be oiled.

"This could have an economic effect upon the fishery enterprises involved. ... There is also the possibility that market perceptions could be affected for fishery products caught over a wider area than that actually affected by oil."

It's unclear precisely why officials advised Paradis that such talk was taboo. A Natural Resources spokeswoman said in an email that the minister's office never received the document.

Spokeswoman Patti Robson said the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board prepared the document and it went only as far as the Natural Resources Department, not all the way up to Paradis' office. She couldn't explain why it was attached to a memo to the minister's office.

"The document was shared with officials, but was not provided to the minister and, therefore, should not have been included in the information that was released to the requestor as it was out of scope," Robson wrote.

Paradis was in Montreal on Monday for an announcement about the city's waterfront. He left the event without taking questions from reporters.

Dunderdale was not available for comment.

Estabrooks said he had talked with Paradis once in the past, but on that occasion it was about the moratorium on drilling on the ecologically sensitive Georges Bank off southwestern Nova Scotia.

He expressed disappointment when informed about the document.

"This does surprise me," Estabrooks said. "It's obviously not the way to do business between the federal and provincial government in my opinion."

Bureaucrats drafted the document after a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Millions of barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf after an offshore rig exploded in April and killed 11 workers.

It took BP nearly three months to plug the gushing well.

Canada's National Energy Board announced it would review offshore oil and gas drilling rules after the Gulf spill.

Only one drilling project -- the Chevron Lona O-55 exploratory well off the coast of Newfoundland -- is underway in Canadian waters. There are no operations off the Pacific coast or in the Arctic.

There are some active oil-and-gas production projects off the coasts of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.