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Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s 2024–25 Departmental plan at a glance

A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans, and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.

[Read the full departmental plan]

Key priorities

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) are responsible for a wide range of activities, including protecting fish stocks, promoting habitat restoration and marine protection, ensuring safe and accessible waterways, and supporting fishery workers and businesses. DFO and the CCG work with other federal departments, other levels of government, Indigenous partners, and stakeholders to grow Canada’s ocean and freshwater economy, support the long-term sustainable growth of Canada’s fish and seafood sector, and protect the safety of mariners in Canadian waters and Canada’s marine environment, ensuring Canada is positioned to succeed in the fast-growing global ocean sectors while advancing reconciliation, conservation, and climate objectives. Across all activities, DFO and the CCG continue to prioritize reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and the recognition of rights related to fisheries, oceans, aquatic habitats, and marine waterways. This will include work to advance the implementation of measures according to the priorities identified in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act Action Plan. The following sections highlight some of this year’s key departmental initiatives that will support Government of Canada priorities and mandate commitments.

Refocusing Government Spending

In Budget 2023, the government committed to reducing spending by $14.1 billion over the next five years, starting in 2023–24, and by $4.1 billion annually after that.

As part of meeting this commitment, the Department is planning the following spending reductions.

DFO will achieve these reductions by doing the following:

The figures in this departmental plan reflect these reductions.

Highlights

A Departmental Results Framework consists of an organization’s core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.

Fisheries

Departmental results:

Planned spending: $1,038,740,576

Planned human resources: 3,658

To ensure the protection of Canada’s species and stocks, the Department will continue to strengthen management regimes to help rebuild long-term abundance and support biodiversity. This means continuing to base fishery decision-making on the Sustainable Fisheries Framework, which supports conservation and sustainable use of resources by establishing harvest strategies that incorporate both the ecosystem approach and precautionary approach as well as advancing work to maintain major fish stocks prescribed in regulation at sustainable levels under the Fish Stock Provisions. These measures are included in the modernized Fisheries Act, which the Department continues to implement to support the sustainability of Canada’s marine resources for future generations.

As part of Canada’s responsibility to recognize and implement Aboriginal and treaty fishing rights, DFO will work to further implement rights-based fisheries, such as the right to fish in pursuit of a moderate livelihood, and will continue to engage Indigenous communities to address the areas of priority for their respective fisheries while ensuring that fisheries remain sustainable and productive for all harvesters.

Through Canada’s membership of several international fisheries management organizations, DFO will continue to work towards improving the state of global fish stocks by working to end unsustainable and illegal fishing practices, refining global fisheries management practices, and improving the health of ocean ecosystems. As part of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, DFO will move forward activities to counter illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing efforts and improve the health of marine ecosystems through the Shared Ocean Fund.

DFO will continue to prioritize science and research to study the impacts of climate change on fisheries, ecosystems, and coastal infrastructure. This research provides both decision makers and Canadians with the information they need to plan and adapt to a changing climate. DFO is also a supporter of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and will continue working with the Canadian ocean community and other partners to advance efforts to stimulate ocean science and knowledge generation to reverse the decline of the state of the ocean system through projects that contribute in advancing solution-oriented ocean science.

More information about Fisheries can be found in the full Departmental Plan.

Aquatic Ecosystems

Departmental results:

Planned spending: $458,054,031

Planned human resources: 1,892

DFO is focusing on the protection and restoration of Canada’s aquatic ecosystems, which are undergoing significant impacts due to climate change and other human pressures, in an effort to support the rebuilding of aquatic biodiversity and the long-term availability of the resources that these ecosystems provide. In 2024–25, the Department will build on its previous work to conserve 25 per cent of Canada’s oceans by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030, which will help to protect biodiversity for generations to come as well as its championing of ocean protection in international fora.

DFO will also continue to advance the implementation of the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative and work closely with partners to develop a strategy to restore and rebuild wild Atlantic salmon populations and their habitats. These collective efforts will help stabilize and restore salmon, which have social, cultural, and economic significance for many Canadians and their communities.

DFO will continue efforts to implement the renewed Oceans Protections Plan, including the continued enhancement of the Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Fund, which provides funding support for groups to undertake projects to restore aquatic habitat in coastal and marine areas.

The Department will continue to advance the implementation of the modernized Fisheries Act, which improves the protection of Canada’s fisheries and their ecosystems. The Act reinstates lost protections by providing comprehensive protection for all fish and fish habitat and restores the previous prohibition against the harmful alteration, disruption, or destruction of fish habitat. In support of the Government of Canada’s Clean Growth agenda, DFO will work with other federal departments and agencies to explore new approaches to advance clean growth projects in a timely manner, while working to address permitting challenges by reviewing its regulatory review process to identify ways to reduce inefficiency.

DFO continues to develop an environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable aquaculture industry in collaboration with Indigenous peoples, industry, local communities, and local governments to achieve this goal. This collaboration is facilitating the development of a responsible plan to transition from open-net pen salmon farming in coastal British Columbia waters by 2025.

More information about Aquatic Ecosystems can be found in the full Departmental Plan.

Marine Navigation

Departmental results:

Planned spending: $376,795,478

Planned human resources: 1,778

Working in close collaboration with other federal departments and Indigenous communities, DFO-CCG will continue to maintain Canada’s waterways to ensure safe navigation.

More information about Marine Navigation can be found in the full Departmental Plan.

Marine Operations and Response

Departmental results:

Planned spending: $2,182,367,818

Planned human resources: 4,611

The Department will also work in close collaboration with other federal departments and Indigenous communities to enhance preparedness to proactively mitigate and respond to emerging maritime incidents and hazards. To this end, the CCG will continue to advance the renewal of its fleet, which will ensure that the CCG has the marine assets needed to support coastal communities and ensure safe and secure waters.

DFO-CCG will engage communities, first responders, and governing authorities to support recovery efforts following environmental emergencies, such as hurricanes or pollution incidents. The Department’s efforts will be focused on increasing proactive monitoring and response capacity on water, developing a comprehensive response system for spills on water, and addressing the impacts to critical infrastructure.

More information about Marine Operations and Response can be found in the full Departmental Plan.

Key Risks

DFO delivers programs and services from coast to coast to coast, supporting communities large and small, urban and remote. This complex and dynamic operating context leads to new challenges and opportunities, such as the important and evolving relationships between DFO and its Indigenous partners. To mitigate and manage risks in this area, the Department will continue to work to strengthen its relationships with Indigenous partners to better provide support that meets their needs and better aligns with their respective traditional ways of knowing and being. At the same time, the Department will continue to actively monitor domestic and global economic and social conditions and climate change impacts to be able to respond to and mitigate potential adverse impacts, which could impair achievement of the Department’s mandate.

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