Coastal Fisheries Protection Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-33)

Short Title

Marginal note:Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act.

Interpretation

Marginal note:Definitions

• 2 (1) In this Act,

  Agreement

  Agreement[Repealed, 2015, c. 18, s. 2]

  Canadian fisheries waters

  Canadian fisheries waters means all waters in the fishing zones of Canada, all waters in the territorial sea of Canada and all internal waters of Canada; (eaux de pêche canadiennes)

  Canadian fishing vessel

  Canadian fishing vessel means a fishing vessel

  • (a) that is registered or licensed under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 , or

  • (b) that is not registered or licensed under the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 or under the laws of another state but is owned by one or more persons each of whom is

    • (i) a Canadian citizen,

    • (ii) in the case of a vessel that is not required to be registered or licensed under that Act, a person resident and domiciled in Canada, or

    • (iii) a corporation incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province, having its principal place of business in Canada; (bateau de pêche canadien)

  fish

  fish includes

  • (a) any part or derivative of a fish,

  • (b) shellfish, crustaceans, marine animals and any part or derivative of any of them, and

  • (c) the eggs, sperm, spawn, larvae, spat or juvenile stages, as the case may be, of fish, shellfish, crustaceans and marine animals; (poisson)

  fisheries management organization

  fisheries management organization means an organization or arrangement established by two or more states, or by one or more states and an organization of states, for the purpose of the conservation and management of fish stocks in the sea or any area of the sea; (organisation de gestion des pêches)

  fishing

  fishing means fishing for or catching or killing fish by any method; (pêcher)

  fishing vessel

  fishing vessel means any of the following:

  • (a) a ship, boat or any other description of vessel that is used in or equipped for

    • (i) fishing, processing fish or transporting fish from fishing grounds,

    • (ii) taking, processing or transporting marine plants, or

    • (iii) provisioning, servicing, repairing or maintaining any vessels of a foreign fishing fleet while at sea,

  • (b) a ship, boat or any other description of vessel that is used in transhipping fish, or marine plants, that have not been previously landed; (bateau de pêche)

  fishing vessel of a participating state

  fishing vessel of a participating state[Repealed, 2015, c. 18, s. 2]

  fishing vessel of a state party to the Fish Stocks Agreement

  fishing vessel of a state party to the Fish Stocks Agreement means a foreign fishing vessel that is entitled to fly the flag of a state party to the Fish Stocks Agreement; (bateau de pêche d’un État assujetti à l’Accord sur les stocks de poissons)

  fishing vessel without nationality

  fishing vessel without nationality means a fishing vessel that

  • (a) has not been issued, under the laws of any state, a registration number, licence or other document granting it the right to fly the flag of that state,

  • (b) sails under a flag that it is not entitled to fly,

  • (c) does not sail under the flag of any state,

  • (d) sails under the flag of two or more states, using them according to convenience, or

  • (e) sails under the flag of a state that is not recognized by the international community; (bateau de pêche sans nationalité)

  Fish Stocks Agreement

  Fish Stocks Agreement means the Agreement for the Implementation of the Provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 Relating to the Conservation and Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in New York on August 4, 1995; (Accord sur les stocks de poissons)

  flag state

  flag state means the state whose flag a fishing vessel is entitled to fly; (État du pavillon)

  foreign fishing vessel

  foreign fishing vessel means a fishing vessel that is not a Canadian fishing vessel; (bateau de pêche étranger)

  government vessel

  government vessel means, subject to subsection 17(2), any vessel that belongs to or is in the service of Her Majesty in right of Canada; (bateau de l’État)

  marine plant

  marine plant means a saltwater plant, including benthic and detached algae, flowering plants, brown algae, red algae, green algae and phytoplankton, and any part or derivative of a saltwater plant; (plante marine)

  Minister

  Minister means the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans; (ministre)

  NAFO Regulatory Area

  NAFO Regulatory Area means that part of the following area, being the Convention Area of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization, that is on the high seas:

  • (a) the waters of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean north of 35°00′ north latitude and west of a line extending due north from 35°00′ north latitude and 42°00′ west longitude to 59°00′ north latitude, thence due west to 44°00′ west longitude, and thence due north to the coast of Greenland, and

  • (b) the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Davis Strait and Baffin Bay south of 78°10′ north latitude; (zone de réglementation de l’OPAN)

  participating state

  participating state[Repealed, 2015, c. 18, s. 2]

  Port State Measures Agreement

  Port State Measures Agreement means the Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, approved by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome on November 22, 2009; (Accord sur les mesures de l’État du port)

  protection officer

  protection officer means, subject to subsection 17(2),

  • (a) a fishery officer within the meaning of the Fisheries Act,

  • (b) a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or

  • (c) any person authorized by the Governor in Council to enforce this Act. (garde-pêche)

  state party to the Fish Stocks Agreement

  state party to the Fish Stocks Agreement means a foreign state or an organization of foreign states that is prescribed by regulation; (État assujetti à l’Accord sur les stocks de poissons)

  straddling stock

  straddling stock[Repealed, 1999, c. 19, s. 1]

• Marginal note:Meaning of state

  (2) In section 5.4, subparagraphs 6(f)(iv) and (vi), paragraphs 16.1(b) and 17(2)(b), sections 18.01 and 18.02 and paragraph 18.1(a.2), state includes an organization of foreign states.

Foreign Fishing Vessels

Marginal note:Entry of foreign vessels into Canadian fisheries waters

3 No foreign fishing vessel shall enter Canadian fisheries waters for any purpose unless authorized by this Act or the regulations, any other law of Canada or a treaty.

Marginal note:Fishing, etc., in Canada and Canadian fisheries waters

• 4 (1) No person, being aboard a foreign fishing vessel or being a member of the crew of or attached to or employed on a foreign fishing vessel, shall in Canada or in Canadian fisheries waters

  • (a) fish or prepare to fish,

  • (b) unload, land or tranship any fish, outfit or supplies,

  • (c) ship or discharge any crew member or other person,

  • (d) purchase or obtain bait or any supplies or outfits, or

  • (e) take or prepare to take marine plants,

  unless authorized by this Act or the regulations, any other law of Canada or a treaty.

• Marginal note:Fishing of sedentary species

  (2) No person, being aboard a foreign fishing vessel or being a member of the crew of or attached to or employed on a foreign fishing vessel, shall fish or prepare to fish for a sedentary species of fish in any portion of the continental shelf of Canada that is beyond the limits of Canadian fisheries waters, unless authorized by this Act or the regulations or any other law of Canada.

• Marginal note:Definition of sedentary species

  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), sedentary species means any living organism that, at the harvestable stage, either is immobile on or under the seabed or is unable to move except in constant physical contact with the seabed or subsoil.

Marginal note:Transporting fish into Canadian fisheries waters

5 No person, being aboard a Canadian fishing vessel, shall bring into Canadian fisheries waters fish received outside Canadian fisheries waters from a foreign fishing vessel, unless authorized by the regulations.

Marginal note:Purpose

5.1 Parliament, recognizing

• (a) that straddling stocks on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a major renewable world food source having provided a livelihood for centuries to fishers,

• (b) that those stocks are threatened with extinction,

• (c) that there is an urgent need for all fishing vessels to comply in both Canadian fisheries waters and the NAFO Regulatory Area with sound conservation and management measures for those stocks, notably those measures that are taken under the Convention on Future Multilateral Cooperation in the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries, done at Ottawa on October 24, 1978, Canada Treaty Series 1979 No. 11, and

• (d) that some foreign fishing vessels continue to fish for those stocks in the NAFO Regulatory Area in a manner that undermines the effectiveness of sound conservation and management measures,

declares that the purpose of section 5.2 is to enable Canada to take urgent action necessary to prevent further destruction of those stocks and to permit their rebuilding, while continuing to seek effective international solutions to the situation referred to in paragraph (d).

Marginal note:Conservation and management measures for the NAFO Regulatory Area

5.2 No person, being aboard a foreign fishing vessel of a prescribed class, shall, in the NAFO Regulatory Area, fish or prepare to fish for a straddling stock in contravention of any of the prescribed conservation and management measures.

Marginal note:Prohibition — Fish Stocks Agreement

5.3 No fishing vessel of a state party to the Fish Stocks Agreement shall, in an area of the sea designated under subparagraph 6(e)(ii),

• (a) contravene a measure or regulation designated under subparagraph 6(e)(i);

• (b) conceal, tamper with or dispose of anything that may afford evidence of a contravention of a measure or regulation designated under subparagraph 6(e)(i); or

• (c) conceal its identity or registration, including displaying a false marking, identity or registration.

Marginal note:Prohibition on fishing vessels of states party to treaties or arrangements

5.4 No fishing vessel of a state that is party to a treaty or arrangement described in paragraph 6(f) shall, in an area of the sea designated under subparagraph 6(f)(ii), contravene a measure or regulation designated under subparagraph 6(f)(i).

Marginal note:Prohibition on fishing vessels without nationality

5.5 No fishing vessel without nationality shall

• (a) in an area of the sea designated under subparagraph 6(e)(ii), fish or prepare to fish or contravene a measure or regulation designated under subparagraph 6(e)(i); or

• (b) in an area of the sea designated under subparagraph 6(f)(ii), fish or prepare to fish or contravene a measure or regulation designated under subparagraph 6(f)(i).

Prohibited Import

Marginal note:Prohibition — importation

• 5.6 (1) No person shall import any fish or marine plant knowing it to have been taken, harvested, possessed, transported, distributed or sold contrary to any of the following:

  • (a) an international fisheries treaty or arrangement to which Canada is party, including any conservation, management or enforcement measures taken under the treaty or arrangement;

  • (b) any conservation or management measures of a fisheries management organization of which Canada is not a member that is prescribed by regulation;

  • (c) a law related to fisheries of a foreign state.

• Marginal note:Prohibition — other

  (2) No person shall, in connection with the importation of any fish or marine plant, transport, sell, distribute, buy or accept the delivery of the fish or marine plant knowing that it was taken, harvested, possessed, transported, distributed or sold contrary to any of the following:

  • (a) an international fisheries treaty or arrangement to which Canada is party, including any conservation, management or enforcement measures taken under the treaty or arrangement;

  • (b) any conservation or management measures of a fisheries management organization of which Canada is not a member that is prescribed by regulation;

  • (c) a law related to fisheries of a foreign state.

• Marginal note:Prohibition — importation

  (3) No person shall import any fish or marine plant that is not accompanied by the documentation required by regulation.