Fisheries and Oceans Canada

NOTICE TO FISH HARVESTERS
Notice Number
nf.23.015
Issue Date

GUIDANCE FOR INDEPENDENT CORE HARVESTERS - INSHORE REGULATIONS

In April 2021, amendments to the Atlantic Fishery Regulations, 1985 (AFR) and the Maritime Provinces Fishery Regulations (MPFR) came into force creating new provisions that preserve and promote the independence of commercial inshore fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

Specifically, the regulatory changes:
- prohibit licence holders from transferring the use or control of rights and privileges conferred under the licence to any third party;
- restrict the issuance of inshore licences to licence holders who have not transferred the rights or privileges conferred under the licence; and
- prohibit anyone other than the licence holder from using and controlling the rights and privileges associated with a licence.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has developed guidance for industry, specifically inshore licence holders, on certain aspects of the implementation of these regulatory changes.

Two new guidance documents are now available on DFO’s website:
1) Agreements and stipulations: Inshore regulations implementation: Agreements and stipulations
2) Financial agreements: Inshore regulations implementation: Financial agreements

Already available guidance on the licensing review process and on corporate structures have also been updated.
If you would like more information regarding the inshore regulations, please visit: Inshore regulations
 

For information, contact:

Julia Sparkes
A/Senior Resource Manager
Tel. (709) 691-6439
E-mail: julia.sparkes@dfo-mpo.gc.ca