Fishery (General) Regulations (SOR/93-53)

• 25 (1) Where a licence is suspended or cancelled under section 9 or 79.1 of the Act, the holder of the licence shall

  • (a) immediately surrender the licence to a fishery officer; and

  • (b) immediately remove from the water all fishing gear operated under the licence.

• (2) No person whose licence is suspended under section 9 or 79.1 of the Act shall, during the period of suspension,

  • (a) engage in fishing for any species of fish for which fishing was authorized by the licence; or

  • (b) be on board a vessel engaged in fishing for any species of fish for which fishing was authorized by the licence.

• (3) No person whose licence is cancelled under section 9 or 79.1 of the Act shall, during the remaining period for which the licence was issued,

  • (a) engage in fishing for any species of fish for which fishing was authorized by the licence; or

  • (b) be on board a vessel engaged in fishing for any species of fish for which fishing was authorized by the licence.

PART IIIIdentification of Fishing Vessels and Fishing Gear

Identification of Fishing Vessels

• 26 (1) No person shall operate or cause to be operated a registered vessel

  • (a) on which the vessel registration number is not painted or securely affixed by some other means; or

  • (b) that displays a vessel registration number that does not meet the requirements set out in subsection (2).

• (2) A vessel registration number shall be

  • (a) legible and unobstructed when viewed from an aircraft in flight, from another vessel or from shore;

  • (b) in solid Arabic numerals without ornamentation;

  • (c) white on a black background or black on a white background;

  • (d) aligned horizontally;

  • (e) of dimensions in accordance with the table to this subsection and subsections (4) and (5); and

  • (f) located on the vessel in accordance with subsection (6).

    Item	Column I	Column II
    	Overall length of vessel	Minimum height of numerals
    1	25 m or more	1.0 m
    2	20 m or more but less than 25 m	0.8 m
    3	15 m or more but less than 20 m	0.6 m
    4	12 m or more but less than 15 m	0.4 m
    5	5 m or more but less than 12 m	0.3 m
    6	Less than 5 m	0.1 m

• (2.1) Where compliance with paragraph (2)(e) is impossible because of a vessel’s structural characteristics, the vessel registration number may be of dimensions that are smaller than those prescribed in this section if the numerals are of the greatest dimensions permitted by the vessel’s structural characteristics.

• (3) For the purpose of subsections (4) and (5), “h” is the height of the numerals forming the vessel registration number.

• (4) The numerals forming the vessel registration number shall

  • (a) have a stroke width of h/6; and

  • (b) be spaced apart not less than h/6 and not more than h/4.

• (5) The background shall extend to provide a border of not less than h/6 around the vessel registration number.

• (6) The vessel registration number shall be located as high as is practicable on both sides of the vessel.

• (7) Subject to subsection (8), no person shall operate or cause to be operated a fishing vessel that displays, on the exterior of the vessel, any number other than the vessel registration number.

• (8) Subsection (7) does not apply with respect to

  • (a) a foreign fishing vessel operating under a licence issued under the Coastal Fisheries Protection Regulations; or

  • (b) a vessel displaying a licence number in accordance with the Small Vessel Regulations.

Identification of Fishing Gear

• 27 (1) It is prohibited for any person to set, operate or leave unattended in the water any fishing gear other than mobile gear or handlines unless the gear is marked in accordance with subsections (2) to (6) with

  • (a) where a vessel registration number is set out in the licence authorizing the use of that gear, the vessel registration number; or

  • (b) in any other case, the name of the person who owns the gear.

• (2) The vessel registration number or name referred to in subsection (1) shall be painted on or otherwise securely affixed to a tag, float or buoy attached to the gear and be legible and readily visible at all times without the necessity of raising the gear from the water or, where the water is ice covered, without the necessity of removing any snow or ice.

• (3) The numerals in a vessel registration number referred to in paragraph (1)(a) shall be solid block Arabic numerals

  • (a) without ornamentation;

  • (b) not less than 75 mm in height; and

  • (c) in a colour that contrasts with their background.

• (4) The letters forming a name referred to in paragraph (1)(b) shall be solid block capital letters in Roman characters

  • (a) without ornamentation;

  • (b) not less than 75 mm in height; and

  • (c) in a colour that contrasts with their background.

• (5) The tag, float or buoy referred to in subsection (2) shall have displayed on it only one vessel registration number or one name, as the case may be.

• (6) Except as otherwise provided as a condition of a licence, a tag, float or buoy referred to in subsection (2) shall

  • (a) where the waters are tidal waters and one end of the fishing gear is fastened to the shore, be affixed to the end of the gear farthest from the shore; and

  • (b) in any other case, be affixed to each end of the gear.

  • (c) [Repealed, SOR/95-242, s. 3]

• (7) The Minister may specify a licence condition referred to in subsection (6) only if the purpose of the condition is to mitigate marine mammal entanglement.

28 [Repealed, SOR/2013-37, s. 4]

29 It is prohibited for any person to display any number or name on fishing gear or on a tag, float or buoy attached to fishing gear that is so similar to a number or name required by section 27 as to be capable of being mistaken for that number or name.

PART IVGeneral

Obstruction of Mesh

30 Subject to section 31, where a person is fishing for a species of fish with fishing gear for which any of the Regulations listed in subsection 3(4) prescribe a minimum mesh size, that person shall not use any device by means of which openings that are smaller in size than the mesh size prescribed for that species are created in any part of the gear.

Chafing Gear

• 31 (1) For the purposes of this section, cod-end means a bag-like extension that is attached to the after end of the belly of a trawl net and is used to retain the catch.

• (2) For the purpose of preventing wear and tear to a trawl net, a person may attach

  • (a) to the underside of the cod-end of the trawl net, any hides, canvas, netting or other similar material; and

  • (b) to the topside of the cod-end, a topside chafer described in Schedule I.

• (3) No person shall use on an otter trawl any topside chafer other than one that meets the description of one of the topside chafers described in Schedule I.

Trans-shipment of Fish

32 No person shall trans-ship any fish from a Canadian fishing vessel to a foreign fishing vessel unless that foreign fishing vessel is licensed under the Coastal Fisheries Protection Regulations to take on board the fish.

Release of Incidental Catch

• 33 (1) Subsection (2) applies where a person catches a fish

  • (a) at a time or place at which the person is prohibited from fishing for that fish;

  • (b) by a method or with fishing gear that the person is prohibited from using to fish for that fish; or

  • (c) the possession or retention of which is prohibited.

• (2) Except where the retention of an incidental catch is expressly authorized by any of the Regulations listed in subsection 3(4), every person who catches a fish incidentally shall forthwith return it

  • (a) to the place from which it was taken; and

  • (b) where it is alive, in a manner that causes it the least harm.

Dumping and Wasting of Fish

• 34 (1) This section does not apply in respect of marine mammals.

• (2) No person who is fishing under the authority of a licence issued for the purpose of commercial fishing shall dump from a vessel any fish that has been caught in accordance with the Act and the regulations made thereunder.

• (3) No person who is food fishing for personal use or fishing for recreational or sport purposes shall waste any fish that is suitable for human consumption.

Sale of Fish

• 35 (1) This section does not apply in respect of fish cultivated in an aquaculture facility or in respect of marine mammals.

• (2) Subject to subsection (3), no person shall buy, sell, trade, barter or offer to buy, sell, trade or barter any fish unless it was caught and retained under the authority of a licence issued for the purpose of commercial fishing, a licence issued under Part VII, a licence issued under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations in which the Minister has authorized the sale of fish or an Excess Salmon to Spawning Requirement Licence issued under the Pacific Fishery Regulations, 1993.

• (3) Subsection (2) does not apply if the buying, selling, trading or bartering is carried out in accordance with the terms of the Agreement defined in section 2 of the Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) Claims Settlement Act, the Agreement defined in section 2 of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Native Claims Settlement Act or the Agreement defined in section 2 of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement Act.

Identify, Count, Weigh and Measure Fish

• 36 (1) No person shall possess fish that were caught by any person while fishing for recreational or sport purposes and that have been skinned, cut, packed or otherwise dealt with in such a manner that

  • (a) the species cannot be readily determined;

  • (b) the number of fish cannot be readily determined;

  • (c) where weight is used to determine catch limits, the weight of the fish cannot be readily determined; and

  • (d) where size limits are applicable, the size of the fish cannot be readily determined.

• (2) No person who catches and retains a fish under the authority of a licence issued for the purpose of commercial fishing shall have the fish in possession if the fish is skinned, cut, packed or otherwise dealt with in such a manner that

  • (a) the species cannot be readily identified;

  • (b) the number of fish cannot be readily determined;

  • (c) the weight of the fish cannot be readily determined; and

  • (d) where size limits are applicable, the size of the fish cannot be readily determined.