Fisheries Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. F-14)

Fisheries Management Orders

Marginal note:Powers of Minister

• 9.1 (1) The Minister may, if he or she is of the opinion that prompt measures are required to address a threat to the proper management and control of fisheries and the conservation and protection of fish, make a fisheries management order with respect to any aspect of fisheries in any area of Canadian fisheries waters specified in the order

  • (a) prohibiting fishing of one or more species, populations, assemblages or stocks of fish;

  • (b) prohibiting any type of fishing gear or equipment or fishing vessel from being used;

  • (c) limiting the fishing of any specified size, weight or quantity of any species, populations, assemblages or stocks of fish; and

  • (d) imposing any requirements with respect to fishing.

• Marginal note:Conditions

  (2) The Minister may impose any conditions that he or she considers appropriate in the order.

• Marginal note:Application of order

  (3) The fisheries management order may provide that it applies only to

  • (a) a particular class of persons, including

    • (i) persons who fish using a particular method or a particular type of gear or equipment, and

    • (ii) persons who use fishing vessels of a particular class; or

  • (b) holders of a particular class of licence.

Marginal note:Duty to comply

9.2 Every person or holder to whom a fisheries management order applies shall comply with it.

Marginal note:Duration

• 9.3 (1) A fisheries management order issued under section 9.1 shall be in effect for the term specified in the order, which shall not exceed 45 days from the day on which the order is issued.

• Marginal note:Renewal of order

  (2) If the Minister is of the opinion that prompt measures continue to be required to address the threat referred to in subsection 9.1(1), he or she may renew the order for a term that does not exceed 45 days from the day on which it is issued.

Marginal note:Amendment of order

• 9.4 (1) The Minister may amend a fisheries management order, other than its term, if he or she is of the opinion that the measures specified in the order are inadequate to address the threat referred to in subsection 9.1(1).

• Marginal note:Revocation of order

  (2) If the Minister is of the opinion that the measures specified in the order are no longer necessary to address the threat or if the threat no longer exists, he or she may revoke the order.

Marginal note:Notice

• 9.5 (1) Notice of a fisheries management order shall be given to the persons or holders to whom it applies, in the prescribed manner or, if there is no prescribed manner, using a method provided under section 7 of the Fishery (General) Regulations, with any necessary modifications.

• Marginal note:If notice not given

  (2) If notice is not given, then the contravention of a fisheries management order is not an offence under this Act unless, at the time of the contravention, reasonable steps had been taken to bring the substance of the order to the notice of the persons or holders to whom it applies.

Marginal note:Inconsistency

9.6 If there is an inconsistency between a fisheries management order and any regulations made under this Act, orders issued under those regulations or conditions of any lease or licence issued under this Act, the fisheries management order prevails to the extent of the inconsistency.

Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act

9.7 Orders made under section 9.1 are not statutory instruments for the purposes of the Statutory Instruments Act.

Fish Allocation for Financing Purposes

Marginal note:Allocation of fish

• 10 (1) For the proper management and control of fisheries and the conservation and protection of fish, the Minister may determine a quantity of fish or of fishing gear and equipment that may be allocated for the purpose of financing scientific and fisheries management activities that are described in a joint project agreement entered into with any person or body, or any federal or provincial minister, department or agency.

• Marginal note:Quantity in licence

  (2) The Minister may specify, in a licence issued under this Act, a quantity of fish or of fishing gear and equipment allocated for the purpose of financing those activities.

Fees

Marginal note:Fees for services or use of facilities

• 11 (1) The Minister may fix, by regulation, the fees to be paid for a service or the use of a facility provided under this Act by him or her, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans or any board or agency of the Government of Canada for which he or she has responsibility.

• Marginal note:Amount not to exceed cost

  (2) Fees that are fixed under subsection (1) shall not exceed the cost to Her Majesty in right of Canada of providing the service or the use of the facility.

Marginal note:Fees for products or cost recovery

• 12 (1) The Minister may fix, by regulation, fees in respect of the products provided or the recovery, in whole or in part, of costs that are incurred in relation to the administration of this Act by him or her, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans or any board or agency of the Government of Canada for which he or she has responsibility.

• Marginal note:Amount not to exceed cost

  (2) Fees in respect of the product or recovery of costs that are fixed under subsection (1) shall not exceed the cost to Her Majesty in right of Canada of providing the product or recovering of costs.

Marginal note:Fees for rights and privileges

13 Subject to section 8, the Minister may fix, by regulation, fees payable in respect of a conferral, by means of a permit or authorization, of a right or privilege provided under this Act.

Marginal note:Fees for providing regulatory processes

• 14 (1) The Minister may fix, by regulation, fees in respect of the provision of regulatory processes under this Act by him or her, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans or any board or agency of the Government of Canada for which he or she has responsibility.

• Marginal note:Amount

  (2) Fees that are fixed under subsection (1) shall in the aggregate not exceed an amount sufficient to compensate Her Majesty in right of Canada for any reasonable expenses incurred by Her Majesty for the purpose of providing regulatory processes under this Act.

Marginal note:Periodic adjustment

15 Regulations made under any of sections 11 to 14 may provide for the periodic adjustment of the fees referred to in those sections.

Marginal note:Proceeds of fees — provinces

16 Any fees charged in relation to the issuance of a licence by an employee of a provincial government belong to Her Majesty in right of that province.

Lobster Fisheries

17 [Repealed, 1991, c. 1, s. 4]

Marginal note:Licences for lobster pounds

• 18 (1) No one shall maintain a pound or enclosure in which lobsters, legally caught during the open season, are retained for sale during the close season at a place where the pound or enclosure is located, or for export therefrom, except under a licence from the Minister, and no lobsters shall be taken from any such pound or enclosure and disposed of during the close season at the place where it is located, except under a certificate from a fishery officer or fishery guardian, setting out the pound or enclosure from which the lobsters were taken and that they had been legally caught during the open season.

• Marginal note:Marking of pounds

  (2) Each pound or enclosure referred to in subsection (1) shall be marked with the name of the licensee and the number of his licence, and the marking shall be in black on a white ground, with letters and figures that are at least six inches in height.

• Marginal note:Fee

  (3) The annual fee for a licence referred to in subsection (1) shall be seventy-five dollars.

19 [Repealed, 1991, c. 1, s. 5]

Prevention of the Escape of Fish

20 [Repealed, 2019, c. 14, s. 13]

Marginal note:Devices to prevent escape of fish

• 21 (1) The Minister may authorize the installation and maintenance of fish guards, screens, coverings, netting or other devices in waters to prevent fish held for breeding from escaping or for any other purpose that the Minister considers to be in the public interest.

• Marginal note:Removal

  (2) No person shall damage, remove or authorize the removal of such a fish guard, screen, covering, netting or other device, unless they are authorized to do so by the Minister.

22 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 136]

General Prohibitions

Marginal note:Fishing in limits leased to another prohibited

23 No one shall fish for, take, catch or kill fish in any water, along any beach or within any fishery described in any lease or licence, or place, use, draw or set therein any fishing gear or apparatus, except by permission of the occupant under the lease or licence for the time being, or shall disturb or injure any such fishery.