Fishery monitoring policy statement - summary
Fishery monitoring policy statement - summary
(PDF, 262 KB)
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has developed a draft policy on fishery monitoring that sets out national objectives and principles for fishery monitoring programs and steps to apply the policy to individual fisheries. The steps replace ad hoc approaches with a consistent approach to reviewing and establishing monitoring programs. The draft policy will apply to all federally-managed fisheries, and will complement the policies in the Sustainable Fisheries Framework.
The policy aims to promote collaborative monitoring of catches, landings, location, ecosystem impacts, and compliance. Data providers are key participants in this process, namely:
- DFO
- recreational fishers
- commercial harvesters
- food, social and ceremonial fisheries
- dockside monitoring companies, observer companies, and other service providers
The policy objectives focus on obtaining dependable, timely, and accessible fishery information. They guide monitoring programs to ensure managers use a consistent approach to determine data collection needs across fisheries. The objectives prioritize data essential for resource conservation, including target catches, bycatch and other ecosystem components, and compliance with fisheries regulations.
The policy principles state that a monitoring program should:
- reflect the degree of risk a fishery poses and the complexity of the fishery
- ensure monitoring is practical and affordable to harvesters, while also achieving the policy objectives, particularly the required level of data dependability to manage the fishery
- involve fish harvesters in collecting and responding to information on the fishery and ecosystem
As different fisheries pose different risks to conservation and other fishery objectives, specific monitoring requirements will differ between fisheries. To implement the policy, DFO will develop work plans to highlight the priorities and timelines to put the policy into effect in individual fisheries.
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