Modernizing The Fisheries Act

November 2007

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The Fisheries Act

The Fisheries Act is the federal law that governs the management of fisheries and the protection of fish habitat in Canada. It was first enacted in 1868, before all the provinces and territories on Canada's three coasts had entered Confederation, and long before modern fishing technology had even imagined. The 139-year old Act has been amended occasionally over the years, but never given a thorough overhaul to bring it up to date.

Why a New Act?

The fishing industry is an important economic base in Canada's coastal communities, and has provided jobs and opportunities for many generations. More than 80,000 Canadians earn their livings directly at sea, on inland waters, in processing plants or in aquaculture operations. It's a big business, with an annual landed value of about $12 billion. But Canada's fisheries are confronting and adapting to a number of challenges: environmental changes; dramatic market shifts; cyclical variations in the abundance of key stocks; and the rapid expansion of other industries that use oceans. This has forced Canada's fisheries to evolve at a pace that leaves the ability of the old legislative tools to manage this key industry in its wake.

About seven years ago, DFO began a series of consultations to begin building a modern fisheries management regime that meets the challenges of the 21^st century. Through extensive consultations with provinces, territories, fishing interests, Aboriginal groups and other stakeholders, DFO discovered there is broad support for the principles of a modernized Fisheries Act. Now it's time to act.

The New Fisheries Act

The new Fisheries Act will:

• require that impacts on fish and fish habitat be factored into all licensing and allocation decisions, making conservation a cornerstone of fisheries management;
• give fishers a greater voice in how their fisheries are managed, but also hold them jointly responsible for ensuring fisheries are well-managed;
• enable long-term access and allocation, increasing stability for fishers so they can better plan their operations; and
• create an administrative sanctions tribunal to deal with the majority of Fisheries Act violations, reducing reliance on the criminal courts.

What Will Be Different

Safeguarding Aquatic Ecosystems: More than ever, the fishing industry is dependent on the conservation of the resource. Without a healthy, sustainable resource, there can be no long-term fishing activities. The Act strengthens our ability to conserve and protect fish habitat. The general prohibition on the harmful alteration, disruption or destruction of fish habitat remains the cornerstone of DFO's fish habitat program.

Ensuring Compliance: Currently, most Fisheries Act offences - even minor ones -- are dealt within the criminal courts. This can be both lengthy and costly.

The new Act would allow certain offences to be dealt with by applying sanctions to fishing licences, such as reductions in quotas, licence suspensions and fines. It would also provide clear guidance for applying Alternative Measures Agreements (AMAs) as a method of dealing with some infractions, avoiding use of the criminal courts. AMAs would be available to individuals who are prepared to accept responsibility for fishery and habitat offences and who are ready to take steps to remedy the wrong.

Shared Stewardship: Those who earn their livelihood from the fishing industry deserve a say in the decisions being made about their industry upon which they rely for their livelihood. They should have a more active role in managing the resource for the future. The new Act would provide a legislated basis for developing legally binding agreements, Fisheries Management Agreements, with fishing groups that would clearly define a shared management role for industry. Specifically, the Act would enable groups to take on a larger role and would also specify harvesting rules, programs, services and funding arrangements via conservation harvesting plans.

Access and Allocations: Everyone in the fishing industry benefits from stability and predictability to plan for the future. Commercial fishers describe the current process for determining access and allocation as unstable and unpredictable. At the same time, they want the Minister to retain authority over access and allocations. To properly plan, fishers need to know that they have long-term access to a particular fishery and what their share of the resource will be. The new Act provides a legal mechanism to the Minister to set allocations up to 15 years for fleets and groups in commercial, recreational and Aboriginal fisheries in marine waters. It would also allow the Minister to rescind, change or replace an allocation in certain circumstances, such as to meet conservation needs, subject to processes set by law.

B-HQ-07-59E(b)