Gear-marking flexibility to reduce whale entanglement

Summary#

These final regulations, SOR/2023-147, change how some fishing gear rules work under the Fisheries Act. They let officials use licence conditions or variation orders to allow different gear marking or new gear (for example, ropeless systems) to reduce whale entanglements. The regulations were registered on June 23, 2023 and published in the Canada Gazette on July 5, 2023.

What it does#

• Allows the Minister to set licence conditions that change the usual gear-marking rules in the Fishery (General) Regulations when the goal is to mitigate marine mammal entanglement.
• Makes it clear that gear-marking rules in the regulations do not apply where an alternative marking rule appears as a licence condition.
• Lets delegated officials issue variation orders that can change fishing gear or equipment rules (not just quotas or close times).
• Makes matching changes to the Pacific Fishery Regulations, 1993 and the Yukon Territory Fishery Regulations so the same flexibility applies there.
• Says these licence conditions or variation orders may only be used for the purpose of reducing marine mammal entanglement.

Who's affected#

• Commercial fish harvesters who use fixed gear (pots, traps, gill nets, longlines), especially lobster and crab fishers who commonly use vertical buoy lines.
• Fishers who want to trial or adopt ropeless or rope-on-demand gear.
• Fisheries managers and regional staff at Fisheries and Oceans Canada who will set licence conditions and variation orders.
• Seafood exporters and industry groups with trade tied to the U.S. market.
• Indigenous fishers: communal licences issued under the ACFLR are not affected by the regulatory gear-marking rules; Indigenous commercial licence holders are treated the same as other commercial fishers.

If it is unclear whether a specific fishery will use these options, that is expected: implementation will be decided on a fishery-by-fishery basis after assessment and consultation.

Why it matters#

• The change gives managers faster, more flexible tools to reduce vertical lines in the water column. Fewer vertical lines can lower the risk of entangling whales, including the endangered North Atlantic right whale. Population estimates cited in the regulatory record include 468 (2010) and 340 (2021), with fewer than 100 breeding females.
• It supports the use and wider adoption of ropeless fishing technology, which removes buoy lines that can trap whales.
• It helps protect market access to the U.S. by giving Canada tools to meet the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act comparability checks that begin on January 1, 2024. In 2022 Canada exported $5.46B in fish and seafood to the U.S. (about 65% of Canadian seafood exports), with lobster and snow crab valued at $1.63B and $1.49B respectively.
• In practice, the changes are administrative: they do not itself force fishers to change gear everywhere. Instead, licence conditions or variation orders would be used where and when managers decide they are needed.