Bill C-237, An Act to amend the Fisheries Act (Atlantic groundfish fisheries), would amend the federal Fisheries Act; it would not create a separate Act or agency. Its stated goal is to add measures for managing Atlantic groundfish fisheries, including more consistent rules for recreational fishing. The supplied material does not identify the bill’s status or a start date, so these are proposed changes, not provisions confirmed to be in force.
Regulations would have to harmonize close times for recreational groundfish fishing across Atlantic provinces. For each species, those close times could be set only in relation to its spawning period.
Close times and fishing quotas set or changed under specified regulations or variation orders would have to be posted on the Fisheries and Oceans Canada website at least two months before taking effect.
The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans would have to prepare an annual report on the administration and enforcement of the Act and present it to both houses of Parliament as soon as feasible after each fiscal year.
The Act’s information and record-keeping provisions could cover the number of fish a person catches each fishing day and their total catch during an open season. The bill does not itself require every fisher to report those numbers.
Within one year after the Act comes into force, the Minister would have to develop a system to record fish caught by species, number, time and place. The Minister must consult key stakeholders and consider existing models, possible funding through fees and penalties, and possible incentives for timely reporting.
Recreational groundfish fishers: If enacted, close times would have to be harmonized across Atlantic provinces and linked to spawning periods. The bill does not itself set the dates.
Fishers who may be subject to information or record-keeping requirements: The added catch figures could be required under the Act’s information rules. The bill does not say that all fishers must submit catch reports.
Fishers and the public: The specified close times and quotas would have to be posted online at least two months before taking effect.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada: The Minister would have new duties to prepare the annual report and develop the monitoring system.
General public: The bill does not itself set fishing quotas, fees or penalties, or say that the monitoring system must be operating by the one-year deadline; it requires the Minister to develop it.
No cost estimate or appropriation is included in the supplied material.
The Minister must develop a monitoring system, but the bill gives no staffing, administration or implementation cost.
The Minister must examine whether fees and penalties under the Act could cover the system’s administrative costs. This does not itself set or change any fee or penalty.
The Minister must identify possible incentives for timely reporting, such as reducing certain fees. The bill does not require a fee reduction.
The supplied material does not give a start date or identify the bill’s current status.
It does not explain how the monitoring system would collect information, who would provide it, or whether and how the system would be put into operation.
“Key stakeholders” and the system’s reporting requirements are not specified.
The bill does not explain how the new provisions would interact with existing rules or programs. The Fisheries Act itself was not supplied, so the current scope of its reporting and record-keeping powers could not be checked.
It is unclear how the two-month publication rule would apply if a close time or quota needed to change on shorter notice.
The bill appears intended to make recreational groundfish close times more predictable across Atlantic provinces and tie them to species’ spawning periods.
Requiring advance online publication could give fishers more notice of close times and quotas.
A system recording catch by species, time and place could provide information relevant to fisheries management; the bill requires development of the system, but does not promise a particular result.
Annual reporting on administration and enforcement would put that information before Parliament each year.
A two-month notice rule could limit flexibility to change close times or quotas quickly; the bill text provides no exception for shorter notice.
The bill requires the Minister to develop a monitoring system but does not set out how it would work, who must report, or how it would be put into operation.
The bill leaves possible system costs and funding unresolved. It requires the Minister to examine fees and penalties as a funding source, not to establish that they will cover the costs.
Harmonizing close times may reduce differences between provinces, but the bill does not explain how local circumstances would be handled within that requirement.