Quebec Fishery Regulations, 1990 (SOR/90-214)

Application

• 3 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), these Regulations apply in respect of the management and control of fishing for freshwater fish and anadromous and catadromous species of fish in the waters of the Province and in tidal waters.

• (2) These Regulations do not apply in respect of fishing

  • (a) in the waters of a national park of Canada; or

  • (b) in any waters or facilities of an aquaculture site, a fishing pond, a breeding pond or a fish-tank for baitfish within the meaning of An Act respecting the conservation and development of wildlife, CQLR, c. C-61.1.

• (3) The fishing restrictions established by these Regulations do not apply to employees of the Ministry while performing their duties.

• (4) Sections 7 to 12 and 16 to 18 do not apply to a licence referred to in item 2, column 1, of Part 2 of Schedule 5.

• (5) Except for this section and section 2, subsections 4(3), (3.1) and (4) and sections 5, 10 and 23, these Regulations do not apply with respect to fishing and related activities carried out under the authority of a licence issued under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations.

PART IGeneral

Variation of Close Times, Fishing Quotas and Limits

• 4 (1) The Minister or a Director may vary close times, fishing quotas, fishing gear or equipment or limits on the length or weight of fish applicable to sport fishing that are fixed in respect of an Area under these Regulations so that the variation applies in respect of that Area or any portion of that Area.

• (2) The Minister or a Director may vary any close time applicable to commercial fishing under these Regulations in respect of the waters referred to in subsection 3(1) or to any portion of them.

• (3) The Minister may vary any close time fixed by the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations in respect of species of fish or waters referred to in subsection 3(1) so that the variation applies to all of the waters or to any portion of them.

• (3.1) Close times varied under subsections (1) to (3) are deemed to also vary the corresponding open season where applicable.

• (4) The authorized person making a variation under subsection (1), (2) or (3), shall give notice of it to the persons affected or likely to be affected by it using one or more of the following methods:

  • (a) broadcasting the notice over a radio or television station that broadcasts in the Area or in the vicinity of the Area affected by the variation;

  • (b) posting the notice in the Area or in the vicinity of the Area affected by the variation;

  • (c) having a fishery officer, a fishery guardian or a representative of the Ministry give oral notice of the variation to those persons;

  • (d) transmitting or posting the notice by electronic means;

  • (e) publishing the notice in a newspaper that is circulated in the vicinity of the Area affected by the variation;

  • (f) publishing the notice in the Gazette officielle du Québec; and

  • (g) publishing the notice in a newsletter or guide that deals with sport fishing or commercial fishing in Quebec, published by the Ministry or by the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Prohibitions

• 5 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4), no person shall fish unless the person

  • (a) is the holder of a licence referred to in Schedule 5 and issued by the Minister or a Director and fishes in accordance with the conditions of that licence; or

  • (b) is the holder of a licence issued under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations and fishes in accordance with the conditions of that licence.

• (2) A person may fish without a licence if the person is

  • (a) a resident engaged in sport fishing for Atlantic tomcod or rainbow smelt in the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries downstream from the Laviolette Bridge (Trois-Rivières Bridge);

  • (b) a resident engaged in sport fishing, for species other than Atlantic salmon, in Area 21 or in that part of any river in Area 1 that is situated downstream from Highway 132, except for the trunk part between Sainte-Flavie and Matapédia;

  • (c) a resident engaged in sport fishing on the days and in the waters designated by the Minister or a Director for the purposes of promoting that activity;

  • (d) a resident engaged in sport fishing for freshwater shellfish or freshwater crustaceans; or

  • (e) a resident under 18 years of age who is engaged in sport fishing and who is in possession of a certificate attesting to their participation in the Quebec Wildlife Foundation’s Pêche en herbe program or the Ministry’s Relève à la pêche program.

• (3) A person may fish under the licence of a licence holder, or without a licence when the person fishes under the supervision of a holder of the appropriate licence, if the person

  • (a) is under 18 years of age and

    • (i) is the child of the holder of a licence referred to in Part 1 of Schedule 5,

    • (ii) is the child of the spouse or common-law partner of the holder of a licence referred to in Part 1 of Schedule 5,

    • (iii) fishes under the supervision of a person 18 years of age or over who is the holder of a licence referred to in Part 1 of Schedule 5, or

    • (iv) fishes under the supervision of the spouse or common-law partner of the holder of a licence referred to in item 1 or 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 5;

  • (b) is between 18 and 24 years of age, holds a valid student card and

    • (i) is the child of the holder of a licence referred to in Part 1 of Schedule 5,

    • (ii) is the child of the spouse or common-law partner of the holder of a licence referred to in Part 1of Schedule 5,

    • (iii) fishes under the supervision of a person 18 years of age or over who is the holder of a licence referred to in Part 1 of Schedule 5, or

    • (iv) fishes under the supervision of the spouse or common-law partner of the holder of a licence referred to in item 1 or 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 5; or

  • (c) is the spouse or common-law partner of the holder of a licence referred to in item 1 or 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 5.

• (4) A person may fish without a licence if the person

  • (a) engages in sport fishing in the boundary waters of the Ristigouche and Patapédia salmon rivers and holds, and fishes in accordance with the conditions of, a licence for sport fishing issued by New Brunswick; or

  • (b) engages in sport fishing in Area 25, in Clarice (Montbray Township), Labyrinthe (Dasserat Township) or Raven (Dufay Township) lakes or in that part of Lake Saint-François that is located west of a line drawn from Beaudette Point on the north shore to Saint-Louis Point on the south shore and holds, and fishes in accordance with the conditions of, a licence for sport fishing issued by Ontario.

• (5) If a person referred to in paragraph (2)(c) or (e) catches an Atlantic salmon, that person shall without delay return the fish to the waters in which it was caught and, if the fish is alive, release it in a manner that causes the least harm to the fish.

• (6) The persons referred to in subsections (3) and (4) are subject to the conditions of the applicable licence under the authority of which they are fishing.

5.1 No person shall fish on an ecological reserve.

5.2 No person shall possess any fish that has been caught in contravention of these Regulations.

Restricted Waters

6 No person other than an Indian as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Indian Act shall fish in any part of the Betsiamites River set out in item 7 of Schedule 6.

• 7 (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall fish for sucker, non-anadromous whitefish, sturgeon, mooneye, goldeye or burbot in Area 22, 23 or 24.

• (2) A person may fish in the Areas and for the species referred to in subsection (1) where the person is

  • (a) a beneficiary under section 10 of the Act respecting hunting and fishing rights in the James Bay and New Quebec territories of Quebec, CQLR, c. D-13.1; or

  • (b) a resident of a part of the Northeastern Quebec region lying below the 55th parallel as demarcated in Schedule 4 of that Act, who is engaged in sport fishing by angling in that part.

Fishing Method Restrictions

8 No person shall fish by means of one or more hooks used in such a manner as to pierce or hook a fish in any part of the body. This restriction does not apply in the event that a fish has taken the hook in its mouth.

9 No person shall engage in fishing, other than angling, anywhere that is less than 500 m downstream from any point on the mouth of a salmon river included in Area 18, 19, 20 or 28, or the mouth of a salmon river on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River or the Gulf of St. Lawrence included in Area 21.

10 No person shall

• (a) adjust or attempt to adjust the flow of a dam for the purpose of fishing or to facilitate fishing; or

• (b) deposit or install, in any water or on its bed, any material in order to divert or slow a water current or divert, slow or halt the movement of fish for the purpose of fishing or to facilitate fishing.

Fishing Gear Restrictions

11 No person shall have in the person’s possession a net, hoop net or night line unless

• (a) the person holds the appropriate licence set out in Schedule 5;

• (b) the person is licensed under provincial legislation to operate a fishing pond or facilities for breeding fish or keeping bait fish; or

• (c) the net, hoop net or night line is kept in a building or in a vehicle other than a boat.

• 12 (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall have in their possession any fishing gear within 100 m of any water where the use of that gear is prohibited under these Regulations.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of

  • (a) fishing gear that is located in a building or in a vehicle other than a boat; or

  • (b) persons who are crossing or moving alongside water to fish in other waters where the use of that gear is authorized.

• (3) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(b), when the gear is a hook other than an artificial fly, it must not be attached to the line, and when the person is also in possession of a rod, it must be rendered inoperative by

  • (a) disassembling it into sections;

  • (b) removing the reel from the rod; or

  • (c) storing the rod in a closed case.

Fish Tagging Requirements

• 13 (1) If a person catches and retains a fish and the person is required, under the terms of the person’s licence, to tag the fish, the person shall immediately affix to it, in the manner set out in the licence, a valid tag issued with the person’s licence.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3), every person who catches and retains an Atlantic salmon shall immediately affix to the fish one of the valid tags that was issued with the person’s licence in the sequence that is indicated on the tags.

• (3) An Atlantic salmon that is caught and retained shall be tagged by the person who hooked it with a valid tag issued with that person’s licence.

• (4) For the purposes of subsections (1) to (3), a tag is valid if

  • (a) it has not been used;

  • (b) it has not been modified or altered in any manner that renders any information on it illegible; and

  • (c) it can be affixed, in the manner indicated in subsection (2), to the fish that has been caught and retained.

• (5) Except in the circumstances described in subsection (7), no person shall possess a fish that was caught and retained under a licence that requires the fish to be tagged, and no person shall possess an Atlantic salmon, unless the fish or salmon is tagged in accordance with subsection (1), (2) or (3), as applicable.

• (6) Except in the circumstances described in subsection (7), no person shall possess

  • (a) an Atlantic salmon that came from another province or country, or a sturgeon that came from another province or country and that was caught in accordance with a commercial fishing licence, unless,

    • (i) it is tagged in accordance with the laws of that province or country,

    • (ii) a tag of a type approved by the Minister or a Director has been affixed to it in the manner described in subsection (2), or

    • (iii) it is being transported through the province to another province or another country;

  • (b) an Atlantic salmon that was obtained from the Ministry unless a tag of a type approved by the Ministry has been affixed to it in the manner described in subsection (2).

  • (c) [Repealed, SOR/2001-51, s. 5]

• (7) No person shall remove a tag that is affixed in accordance with this section except at the time the fish is prepared for human consumption.