Maritime Provinces Fishery Regulations (SOR/93-55)

Application

• 3 (1) These Regulations apply in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and in Canadian fisheries waters adjacent to those provinces.

• (2) These Regulations do not apply in respect of

  • (a) [Repealed, SOR/93-335, s. 2]

  • (b) fishing for marine mammals;

  • (c) fishing carried out under the authority of a licence issued under the Atlantic Fishery Regulations, 1985;

  • (d) cultivated fish found in or taken from

    • (i) an aquaculture area or site operated under a lease or licence issued by the Minister or under the Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act of Nova Scotia or the Aquaculture Act of New Brunswick, or

    • (ii) a privately owned fish pond that does not contain any wild fish and to which wild fish have no access;

  • (e) national parks where the National Parks Fishing Regulations apply; or

  • (f) a foreign fishing vessel or a person fishing from a foreign fishing vessel, except where the vessel or person is engaged in recreational fishing.

• (3) Except for this section and sections 2, 4, 6, 18, 19, 22, 25 to 29, 34, 35, 39, 56, 58, and 68, these Regulations do not apply with respect to fishing and related activities carried out under the authority of a licence issued under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations.

PART IGeneral

Licences, Registration Cards and Certificates

• 4 (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (5), no person shall fish for or catch and retain any fish unless

  • (a) the person is

    • (i) authorized to do so under the authority of a licence issued under these Regulations, the Fishery (General) Regulations or the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations, or

    • (ii) accompanying a person referred to in subparagraph (i) and is fishing for

      • (A) eels with eel traps,

      • (B) gaspereau with gill nets, trap nets, square nets or weirs,

      • (C) shad with gill nets, square nets or trap nets,

      • (D) silversides with trap nets,

      • (E) smelt with bag nets, box nets or gill nets,

      • (F) sturgeon with gill nets, or

      • (G) tomcod with bag nets, box nets or gill nets;

  • (b) the person holds a fisher’s registration card or a provincial or territorial fisher’s certificate, as defined in section 2 of the Fishery (General) Regulations; and

  • (c) where a vessel is used in fishing, a vessel registration card has been issued in respect of that vessel.

• (2) A person may retain

  • (a) shad incidentally caught with gaspereau fishing gear operated under the authority of a licence;

  • (b) [Repealed, SOR/96-125, s. 1]

  • (c) tomcod incidentally caught with smelt fishing gear operated under the authority of a licence.

• (3) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of

  • (a) recreational fishing by angling or with set lines;

  • (b) recreational fishing for clams or mussels by hand or with hand-held tools;

  • (c) recreational fishing for eels, smelt or tomcod with spears in tidal waters;

  • (d) recreational fishing for smelt with dip nets;

  • (e) recreational fishing for gaspereau with dip nets in waters other than

    • (i) the inland and tidal waters of Prince Edward Island, and

    • (ii) the inland waters of the Miramichi River and the Saint John River;

  • (f) fishing for oysters in a leased oyster area; or

  • (g) fishing for minnows with minnow traps or dip nets.

• (4) Paragraphs (1)(b) and (c) do not apply in respect of fishing under the authority of a recreational fishing licence or a licence issued under the Aboriginal Communal Fishing Licences Regulations.

• (5) Paragraph (1)(c) does not apply in respect of fishing for oysters in a public oyster-fishing area in the inland or tidal waters of Prince Edward Island or Nova Scotia.

5 The Minister, upon application for a licence or registration card set out in column I of an item of the table to this section and payment of the fee set out in column II of that item, may issue that licence or registration card.

Prohibited Species

6 No person shall catch and retain or possess Atlantic whitefish.

Fishing in Inland Waters

• 7 (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall fish in inland waters except by angling.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person who is fishing

  • (a) for gaspereau, smelt or shellfish;

  • (b) for minnows with minnow traps or dip nets;

  • (c) with set lines under Parts XVIII and XIX; or

  • (d) under the authority of a licence that authorizes fishing in inland waters by means other than angling.

8 No person shall fish in inland waters with the aid of an artificial light or light from a fire.

Jigging Restrictions

9 No person shall fish or assist in fishing by jigging in inland waters or assist in landing fish that have been caught by jigging in inland waters.

9.1 No person shall fish by jigging in the waters set out in column I of the table to this section during the close time set out in column II.

Angling

10 Notwithstanding any open season set out in these Regulations for angling in any inland waters, no person shall angle for any species of fish in those inland waters unless an open season for at least one species of sport fish is in effect in those waters.

11 No person shall angle in inland waters

• (a) with more than one fishing line; or

• (b) with a fishing line to which more than three hooks are attached.

11.1 No person shall angle in tidal waters for sport fish

• (a) with more than one fishing line; or

• (b) with a fishing line to which more than three hooks are attached.

11.2 No person shall angle in tidal waters for any species of fish other than sport fish

• (a) with more than five fishing lines; or

• (b) with a fishing line to which more than six hooks are attached.

11.3 For greater certainty, the prohibitions set out in sections 11.1 and 11.2 do not apply to fishing for commercial purposes.

• 12 (1) Subject to subsection (2), no person shall angle for sport fish during the period beginning two hours after sunset and ending two hours before sunrise.

• (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of

  • (a) angling for smallmouth bass in Micmac Lake or Banook Lake in Halifax County, Nova Scotia;

  • (b) angling for brown trout in the Cornwallis River, Kings County, Nova Scotia or in the Mersey River, Queens County, Nova Scotia, downstream from Lake Rossignol to the dam at Cowie Falls; or

  • (c) angling during the period beginning on January 1 and ending on March 31 in the waters set out in section 116 or Schedule IX.

• (3) Nothwithstanding subsection (1), no person shall angle in the inland waters of Nova Scotia set out in Schedule IV during the period beginning at 22:00 h on any day and ending at 06:00 h on the following day.

13 Every person who catches a sport fish by hooking it in a part of its body other than its mouth shall forthwith return the fish to the water from which it was caught and, where the fish is alive, release the fish in a manner that causes the least harm to it.

14 No person shall use a gaff or spear to land a sport fish that has been caught by angling.

15 No person shall angle or assist in angling from

• (a) any bridge in Nova Scotia that spans any waters set out in column I of Schedule IV; or

• (b) any bridge in New Brunswick that spans the inland waters of or forms the boundary for the inland waters of any river, stream or brook set out in column I of Schedule II.

• 16 (1) No person shall angle for any species of fish in the waters set out in column I of Schedule IV by a method set out in column II during the close time set out in column III.

• (2) The close time established by subsection (1) is considered to be fixed separately and independently for each species of fish found in those waters.