Newport (Quebec) – The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, and Mr. Stéphane Sainte-Croix, member of Parliament for Gaspé and Quebec Government Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mr. André Lamontagne, will hold a press conference to announce support to the Quebec fishing industry.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Province of New Brunswick are pleased to announce funding of $670,073 for nine companies through the Atlantic Fisheries Fund, for new technology on snow crab vessels.
With the longest coastline in the world, Canada’s coastal communities rely on the fish and seafood industry as an integral contributor to local and regional economies.
Located in the waters of Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark with regard to Greenland, the Pikialasorsuaq or North Water Polynya, is a dynamic area of open sea that remains ice-free throughout the winter.
Fishery officers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) successfully completed their first Canadian-led high seas patrol to detect and deter illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the North-Pacific, a region critical to implementing Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and upholding its international obligations.
On September 21, Hollow Water First Nation members celebrated the official opening of a new and much needed small craft harbour for their community on eastern Lake Winnipeg. Chief Larry Barker spoke of the importance of this new infrastructure, which improves access to the community’s fish processing plant and provides safer docking for vessels. The harbour has been operational since May 2023, and is the newest harbour in service in the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) national system of small craft harbours.
Recent investigations by fishery officers with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) into the Boundary Bay commercial crab fleet have resulted in several convictions in Surrey Provincial Court. Four vessel masters received fines and forfeitures totalling over $287,000. One captain also received a first-ever fishing prohibition.
Since last summer’s detection of Zebra Mussels in Lake Temiscouata, Quebec, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and its provincial, municipal, non-governmental and Indigenous partners have been closely monitoring New Brunswick’s lakes and rivers for any new presence of the aquatic invasive species (AIS).
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) officials remain actively engaged in Southwest Nova Scotia, meeting with Indigenous harvesters, groups and organizations, as well as commercial fishing associations. Open, honest and clear dialogue remains the best way to raise concerns and to find solutions for everyone involved in the lobster fishery.
On June 28, 2023, the numbered company 1269039 BC Ltd. (multiple partners)—which owns the Canadian commercial fishing vessel, Ocean Provider—was sentenced in Port Alberni Provincial Court. The company pleaded guilty to fishing for albacore tuna between July 22 and August 15, 2022, without the authority of a valid licence, contrary to the Pacific Fishery Regulations, 1993. This is a serious violation of the Fisheries Act and Canada’s international fisheries obligations.
