Book 2, Tab C3 - Fisheries management decision-making

On this page

• Purpose
• DFO manages over 200 fisheries on three coasts
• Mandate
• Fisheries management decision-making
• Decision-making is supported by
• Fisheries management annual cycle
• Partners and stakeholders
• Indigenous and treaty-related fishing rights
• Annex A - Sustainable fisheries framework
• Annex B - Precautionary approach
• Annex C - Fish stocks provisions
• Annex D - IFMPs
• Annex E - Fisheries Management Decisions – Protection of Ecosystems and Species
• Annex F - International Fisheries Management
• Annex G - International Fisheries Multilateral Regional Fisheries Bodies/Agreements
• Annex H - types and locations of species

Purpose

• To provide an introductory overview of:
  • Canada’s fisheries resources
  • the fisheries decision-making process

DFO manages over 200 fisheries on three coasts

• Three types of fisheries: Indigenous food, social, ceremonial (FSC); commercial (including for moderate livelihood, communal commercial, and non-Indigenous fisheries); and recreational
• Some fisheries operate in a specific season, while others are year-round

Commercial Landings 2021

Groundfish $346.9 million

• Greenland Halibut
• Cod
• Atlantic Halibut

Pelagics $157.7 million

• Arctic Char
• Albacore Tuna
• Herring
• Pacific Salmon
• Pacific Herring
• Mackerel
• Bluefin Tuna

Shellfish $4.1 billion

• Shrimp
• Clams & Geoduck
• Snow Crab
• Surfclam & Scallops
• Lobster

Other $9.3 million

• Atlantic Salmon
• Walrus
• Harp Seals
• Narwhal
• Beluga

Mandate

The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans exercises authority over coastal and inland fisheries (Constitution Act, S. 91 (12)).

The Fisheries Act gives the Minister authority over fish harvesting.

• How much: total allowable catch (TAC)
• Who: access and allocation (who can fish, individual and/or fleet shares)
• When: times and seasons for fishing, fishery closures
• How: management measures and harvesting plans to ensure conservation, both on target stocks and other species and ecosystems (e.g. gear type and amount, monitoring and reporting requirements)

DFO also has international fisheries responsibilities.

• Roughly 20 per cent of Canada’s fish stocks are managed in cooperation with international counterparts, either through bilateral or multilateral arrangements (see Annexes E and F)

Provinces have responsibility for fish processing and have been delegated responsibility for most inland and freshwater fisheries.

Fisheries management decision-making

Decisions adhere to the following principles:

• Conservation
• Indigenous and Treaty Rights
• Legally-binding agreements
• Orderly management

Traditionally, non-controversial decisions are sub-delegated to regional authorities (i.e. Regional Directors General): management measures, TAC, quota transfers, openings and closures.

Ministerial decisions are required for:

• new fishing licences
• new or deviations from existing policy
• discrepancies in science advice and TAC recommendations
• multi-regional fisheries
• land claims management board decisions/recommendations
• impacts on non-target species, e.g. listed species
• politically sensitive issues
• mandates for key international fisheries negotiations

Approximately 50 ministerial decisions are sought per year.

Decision-making is supported by:

Science advice: peer reviewed science advice on stock status, TAC, and other conservation measures.

Fishery legislation/policies: sustainable Fisheries Framework (Annex) which is a suite of tools including the Precautionary Approach, bycatch, sensitive ecosystems, etc.; Fish Stock Provisions (e.g., mandatory rebuilding requirements); and licensing policies (owner operator, residency, etc.).

Socioeconomic considerations: analysis of short-and long-term impacts of fisheries decisions on the fishing industry and reliant communities, including any adverse effects of decisions on the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Stakeholder consultations: a broad set of advisory processes involving, Indigenous partners, fishing industry participants, the provinces, and relationships with commercial, recreational, and environmental groups.

Fisheries management annual cycle

DFO exercises authority over domestic fishing activity and harvest levels

1. Planning
   • Implementation planning for changes to the fishery
   • Identification of science needs
   • Harvesting plan review and updating
2. Consultative process
   • Science advice
   • Consultative process with Indigenous partners and other stakeholder groups
3. Minister’s decision
   • Decision taken
4. Pre-season preparations
   • Licence conditions, quota allocations, TAC decisions, notice to fishers, etc
5. Fishing season
   • Fisheries opening & closing
   • Quota monitoring & management
   • Compliance & enforcement
6. Post-season review
   • Review of the effectiveness of fishery measures and enforcement against objectives
   • Quota reconciliation

Partners and stakeholders

• Longstanding and extensive fisheries advisory processes for the major fisheries through which input is sought:
  • Industry (harvesters and processors), Indigenous groups and provinces generally attend these sessions
    • Some advisory meetings also hold specific Indigenous-only sessions to ensure an open forum for discussion and collaboration
  • Environmental and conservation groups participate in the west coast and are becoming more active in east coast
  • Smaller working groups to collaborate on specific projects
  • In addition to formal processes, partners and stakeholders are regularly connected to regional DFO officials, and frequently contact the Minister’s Office directly on fisheries issues

Indigenous and treaty-related fishing rights

• Over the years, Court decisions have provided guidance on the nature and scope of Aboriginal and treaty rights and the Governments' responsibility to manage natural resources in a manner consistent with the constitutional protection provided to Aboriginal and treaty rights:
  • R. v. Sparrow (1990) - Musqueam First Nation (BC) - Aboriginal right to fish for food, social and ceremonial (FSC) purposes.
    • DFO policy response through the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy (FSC provisions and licences, collaborative management)
  • R. v. Marshall (1999) - affects Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqey and Peskotomuhkati at Skutik (Maritimes/Gaspé) - treaty right to hunt, fish and gather for the purpose of earning a moderate livelihood.
    • Over the past two decades, the Government has invested significantly in a negotiations and programmatic approach to implementing the right
  • R. v. Ahousaht (2013) – Five Nuu-chah-nulth Nations (West coast of Vancouver Island) - Aboriginal right to fish and sell fish from their territories.
    • DFO policy response through revisions to the annual Five Nations Multi-species Fisheries Management Plan that implements the right, in consultation with the Nations; and review of Pacific Salmon Allocation Policy
  • R. v. Desautel (2021) – Court affirmed some Indigenous individuals who are not citizens or residents of Canada may exercise section 35 Aboriginal rights in Canada.
    • Court defined “Aboriginal peoples of Canada” to mean the modern-day successors of Aboriginal societies that occupied Canadian territory at the time of European contact and may include Aboriginal groups now outside Canada
• In addition to these SCC decisions which help guide implementation of Aboriginal and treaty rights, DFO also works with Indigenous partners to pursue broader reconciliation goals (e.g., economic, collaborative management, etc.)
• There are also unique fisheries management decision processes for land claims groups outlined in modern treaties which are constitutionally-protected agreements
• Through the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, the Nunavut Wildlife Management Board is established to help ensure the protection and use of wildlife (including fisheries) for the long-term benefit of Inuit, Nunavut, and Canada
• Issues are brought to the Board for decision from federal and territorial governments, Regional Wildlife Organizations, Hunters and Trappers Organizations, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, non-governmental organizations, and the general public
• Decision(s) of the Board is then forwarded to the appropriate federal or territorial Minister for approval (e.g., seals, walrus)
• More recently, implementation of several new Rights Reconciliation Agreements with First Nations are leading to increased commercial access, recognition of rights, enhanced collaborative management, and consideration of recommendations from joint management committees

Annex A – Sustainable fisheries framework

The Sustainable Fisheries Framework (SFF) is the foundation for an ecosystem approach to fisheries, which aims to consider the impacts of fishing on all components of the aquatic environment.

The SFF consists of various policies and tools: 

• precautionary approach policy (includes the development of fish stock rebuilding plans)
• specific policies for: Sensitive benthic areas, new fisheries for forage species, by-catch of non-target species and listed species, e.g., endangered whales, fishery monitoring, etc
• Sustainability Survey for Fisheries (SSF)
• Integrated Fisheries Management Plans (IFMPs)

SFF continues to evolve as new legislation, policies, and tools are created.

For example, new guidelines being developed to implement the fish stocks provisions in the Fisheries Act propose that DFO document the evidence to support decisions for prescribed major fish stocks under the provisions.

Annex B - Precautionary approach

Taking action and applying precaution to avoid serious harm to the resource in the absence of scientific information or when scientific information is uncertain, unreliable, or inadequate and not using the absence of full scientific certainty as a reason to postpone decisions or fail to avoid serious harm to the resource.

Limit Reference Point (LRP)

• The threshold below which could result in serious harm to the stock
• Typically, the trigger for rebuilding plans

Upper Stock Reference Point (USR)

• The threshold below which removals must be progressively reduced in order to avoid reaching the LRP

Harvest Control Rules (HCR)

• Pre-agreed rules (HCRs) to avoid limits and achieve targets and take certain actions when the stock’s abundance reaches certain levels relative to those limits

Annex C – Fish stocks provisions

New fish stocks provisions, introduced under the Fisheries Act in 2019, legislate the application of Precautionary Approach principles to the management of major fish stocks prescribed by regulation under the Act.

The Department has committed to prescribing the majority of 176 major fish stocks on the Sustainability Survey for Fisheries, by the end of 2024.

The fish stocks provisions introduce legally-binding obligations:

• to manage prescribed stocks at levels necessary to promote sustainability
• for prescribed stocks that have declined into the critical zone (to or below their Limit Reference Point)
  • to develop and implement rebuilding plans to grow the stock above the Limit Reference Point (see previous slide for terminology)
  • to take into account habitat restoration measures if the loss or degradation of the stock’s fish habitat has contributed to the stock’s decline

A rationale will be published online for invoking any of following exceptions outlined in the provisions:

• mitigating adverse socio-economic or cultural impacts
• cases where rebuilding plans will not be developed for stocks in the critical zone, for reasons outlined in the legislation

Annex D – IFMPs

Development and implementation of IFMPs represent the process through which decisions are managed.

IFMPs document:

• the planning cycle
• fishery objectives for all user groups (i.e., commercial, Indigenous, recreational)
• management decisions and measures
  • opening times, size and retention limits, and gear restrictions
• enforcement and control measures
  • at-sea observation, dockside monitoring and catch reporting
• Indigenous participation and departmental obligations through land claims or other collaborative agreements

IFMP objectives: established for all major fisheries, evergreen (some in Pacific Region are annual or multi-year), made public and accessible.*

*Increasingly online as committed in response to the 2016 CESD Audit.

Annex E – Fisheries Management Decisions – Protection of Ecosystems and Species

1. Fisheries Decisions to Minimize Impacts on Endangered Species (Whales)
   • Decisions required to mitigate impacts of fishing on marine mammals, endangered species, including targeted fisheries management plans to protect species such as North Atlantic right whales, Southern Resident Killer whales
   • These decisions and management measures required under the Species At Risk Act (SARA) and assists fisheries to maintain US market access under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act
2. Fisheries Decisions to Address and Reduce Ghost Gear (lost/derelict/discarded)
   • Mandatory Lost Gear Reporting: Mandatory requirement to report gear loss and to report the retrieval of gear previously reported lost to all commercial fishing licences
   • The Ghost Gear Fund:  Between 2020-2023, the Ghost Gear Fund expended $29.4 million to support 96 projects, facilitating the retrieval of more than 1,706 tonnes of ghost gear. An additional $28.5 million allocated to fund cleanup activities in areas affected by Hurricane Fiona in 2023-2024
3. Fisheries Decisions to protect marine ecosystems
   • Marine refuges - area-based fisheries closures under the Fisheries Act to conserve biodiversity and support area-based conservation measures. To date, marine refuges account for 5.66% of Canada’s protected marine areas
   • Fisheries measures in Federal Protected Areas: DFO support/decision for fisheries management measures in other federal protection measures, e.g., Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Indigenous-led protected areas

Annex F - International Fisheries Management

• A broad range of economically-significant fish stocks are managed through international arrangements. This provides a forum for cooperation on policy, fisheries management, enforcement, science and conservation, and, in many cases, decisions that include negotiation of Canadian shares of a fishery
• Canada is member of seven multilateral regional fisheries management organizations (next slide)
• Canada is also member of a number of bilateral agreements:
  • Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) - Canada-United States (US)
  • International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC) – Canada-US
  • Pacific Hake Treaty – Canada-US
  • Pacific Albacore Tuna Treaty – Canada-US
  • Procès-verbal (PV) – Canada-France
  • Georges Bank Stocks  (non-binding arrangement) – Canada-US
• Canada is an observer / cooperating non-contracting party to: North Atlantic Marine Mammal Commission (NAMMCO); International Whaling Commission (IWC); North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC); and, Inter-American Sea Turtle Convention (IAC)
• Canada, with other signatories, is leading on implementation of the multi-lateral agreement for the prevention of unregulated high seas fisheries in the central Arctic Ocean

Annex G – International Fisheries Multilateral Regional Fisheries Bodies/Agreements

Deep Sea and Anadromous Regional Fisheries Management Organizations

• North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO)
• Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO)
• North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC)
• North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC)

Tuna Regional Fisheries Management Organizations

• Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)
• Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)
• International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT)

Regional Fisheries Management Agreement

• Central Arctic Ocean (CAO) Fisheries Agreement

Annex H – Types and locations of species

Pelagic Fish (caught near surface)

• Herring
• Mackerel
• Tuna

Groundfish (caught near ocean floor)

• Halibut
• Atlantic Cod
• Haddock

Shellfish (caught on ocean floor)

• Snow crab
• Lobster
• Shrimp