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Atlantic Region Licences

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Browse this section to find statistics on commercial fishing licences issued by Fisheries and Oceans Canada in the Atlantic Provinces. You will also find information collected through the registration of commercial fishing vessels. Data are available from 1983 onward.

The number of registered commercial fishing vessels in the Atlantic region totaled 13,991 in 2024, a decrease of 1% from 2023, 9% from 2015, 25% from 2005, and 49% from 1983, the earliest year for which comparable records are available. Similar to earlier years, the majority (91%) of the fleet in 2024 consisted of vessels that are less than 45 ft in length. However, the number of vessels less than 35 ft has been decreasing while mid-sized vessels (35-65 ft) have increased overall.

Changes to vessel restriction policies including increasing the overall length limit of inshore vessels to less than 50 ft (up from 40 ft) have likely contributed to the decrease of smaller vessels in many Atlantic inshore fisheries. For further reading on DFO vessel licencing policies, please refer to What We Heard Report: Vessel and Related Policies that Support Owner-Operator (2024).

Total numbers of commercial fishing licences have declined in part due to policies including Harvest Benefit Combining in the Maritimes Region and retirement of non-reissuable licences. The number of licence holders decreased in Quebec (-1%), Newfoundland and Labrador (-3%), and Gulf regions (-4%). Within Gulf region, licence numbers decreased in the provinces of Nova Scotia (-2%), Prince Edward Island (-3%), and New Brunswick (-7%).

Individual licence holders were issued a total of 56,846 species-specific commercial fishing licences in 2024, 1% less than the number issued in 2023 and 33% lower than 10 years before (in 2015). Provincially, licence numbers increased slightly in Nova Scotia and Quebec but decreased slightly in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador compared to 2023. Lobster (15%), Groundfish (13%), and Herring (12%) are the most common types of licences, and Shrimp was the biggest decrease in licence numbers compared to the previous year (-5%). In 2022, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) closed the Atlantic Mackerel commercial and bait fisheries to allow the stock to rebuild, and this moratorium was extended through 2024. Prior to this moratorium, Atlantic Mackerel licences comprised 10% of the Atlantic total in 2021.

Data tables:

Licence holders

(number of commercial fish harvesters registered)

Species information

(number of commercial fishing licences issued, by species)

Vessel information

(number of commercial fishing vessels registered, by size)
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