A Modern and Effective Fisheries Management Compliance Regime

November 2007

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Effective deterrents to illegal fishing are essential to sustain Canada's fisheries. An effective compliance regime must be efficient, practical and even-handed to instil public confidence in its fairness. But it also needs to be armed with sanctions that are tough on transgressors and appropriate to the nature of the offence.

Canada's current system of rules and penalties isn't doing a good enough job to keep resource users in line or define the legal structure of what is and isn't permissible. Slowed down in provincial court systems designed primarily for criminal justice matters, the process of handling fishery offences is often costly and sometimes inefficient.

It is clear after many years of formal and informal discussions with individual fishers and fishing groups that they want -- and need -- a more effective enforcement regime to determine where sanctions should be used and who should apply them. These stakeholders want reforms that reward the majority who live by the rules, and protect them from the actions of negligent or wilful offenders whose carelessness and deliberate cheating damage fisheries resources that belong to all Canadians.

These types of reforms are key components of a modernized Fisheries Act. The centrepiece is the creation of an innovative Canada Fisheries Tribunal that operates at arms-length from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Over time, the tribunal of impartial fishery experts would become the primary tool for handling infractions by licence holders in coastal fisheries.

Depending on the severity of a violation, sanctions would range from fines up to a maximum of $30,000, to the forfeiture of seized boats, gear and illegal catches, to the short-term suspension or revocation of a fishing licence. Taking away a licence or reducing a fisher's quota will have a significant deterrent effect since it will directly affect a fisher's livelihood.

Implementation could be phased in, starting with certain violations and then gradually expanding to cover more. A tribunal dealing solely with fishery violations will develop special expertise and a special appreciation for the gravity of these infractions to fish stocks and law-abiding fishery participants.

The tribunal would also administer an expanded ticketing system for minor violations that will provide a more streamlined system for minor infractions. Offences such as poaching, obstruction, and providing false information, as well as offences in inland fisheries and habitat offences, would continue to be primarily dealt with by the courts.

B-HQ-07-59E(d)