Important Notice to Potential Tag Suppliers for Atlantic Canada

In response to industry concerns, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has revised the requirements for marking gear tags for the 2013 fishing season. Harvester licence numbers will not be required on gear tags in Atlantic Canada and tags assigned to each Atlantic harvester will no longer be numbered from one to the maximum number of traps being fished under the trap limit for that fishery.

Licence numbers will be replaced with a unique Tag Supplier Identification Number (TSIN) that Fisheries and Oceans Canada will assign to each tag supplier when their tagging plan is approved. The TSIN will prefix each tag number and tag suppliers will be able issue sequential blocks of unique tag numbers to each harvester.

Tag suppliers will be required to maintain records of the tag numbers provided to each harvester and submit these records to Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Revisions to the Protocol for Gear Tagging in Atlantic Commercial Fisheries, the Tagging Plan Template and Instructions and Tag Issuance Forms will be posted shortly.