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Bill C-62

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Exemption from Statutory Instruments Act

Certain instruments exempted

22. Fisheries management orders and fish eries management agreements are exempt from the application of sections 3, 5 and 11 of the Statutory Instruments Act.

Conservation and Protection of Fish

Destruction of fish

23. No person shall destroy fish by any means other than fishing except as authorized by the Minister, a fishery officer or the regulations.

Main channel not to be obstructed

24. (1) One third of the width of any river or stream and not less than two thirds of the width of the main channel at low tide in every tidal stream shall be left open, and no kind of net or other fishing apparatus, logs or any material of any kind shall be used or placed therein.

Devices to prevent escape of fish

(2) The Minister or a fishery officer may authorize the placing and maintaining of barriers, screens or other devices in streams, to prevent the escape of fish held for fish breeding purposes or for any other purpose that the Minister deems to be in the public interest, and no person shall damage any such barrier, screen or other device.

Nets, weirs, etc., not to obstruct passage of fish

25. (1) No person shall set, use or maintain in Canadian waters, whether subject to any exclusive right of fishing or not, any net, weir or other device that unduly obstructs the passage of fish.

Removal

(2) The Minister or a fishery officer may order the removal of or remove any net, weir or other device that, in the opinion of the Minister or fishery officer, unduly obstructs the passage of fish.

Fish-ways and canals

26. No person shall fish in any manner within twenty-five metres downstream from the lower entrance to any fish-way, canal, obstacle or leap.

Prohibition

27. No person shall fish in any area to which a lease or licence applies, or set therein any fishing gear or apparatus, except by permis sion of the occupant under the lease or licence for the time being, nor shall any person interfere with any such fishery.

Unlawful sale or possession

28. No person shall purchase, sell or possess any fish that has been caught and retained in contravention of this Act, the regulations, a fisheries management order, a lease or a condition of a licence.

Setting gear during closed time

29. (1) No person shall set or leave any fishing gear or apparatus used to fish for a species of fish in any waters during a closed time for that species of fish in those waters.

Officer's discretion

(2) A fishery officer may permit fishing gear or apparatus referred to in subsection (1) to remain in the water, for such period as the fishery officer may fix, after the commence ment of the closed time.

International Conservation and Management Measures

Entry of foreign fishing vessels

30. No foreign fishing vessel shall enter Canadian waters or the exclusive economic zone of Canada for any purpose

    (a) except in accordance with a licence; or

    (b) unless authorized by the regulations or any other law of Canada.

Fishing

31. (1) No foreign fishing vessel shall, except in accordance with a licence or unless authorized by the regulations or any other law of Canada, engage in any of the following activities in Canadian waters or the exclusive economic zone of Canada:

    (a) fishing;

    (b) processing of fish;

    (c) unloading, landing or transhipping any fish, outfit or supplies;

    (d) shipping or discharging any crew mem ber or other person; or

    (e) buying or obtaining bait or any supplies or outfits.

Fishing for sedentary species

(2) No foreign fishing vessel shall, except under a licence or unless authorized by the regulations or any other law of Canada, engage in fishing for a sedentary species on the continental shelf of Canada.

Importation of fish

32. No Canadian fishing vessel shall, ex cept under a licence or unless authorized by the regulations, bring into Canadian waters or the exclusive economic zone of Canada fish received outside Canadian waters and the exclusive economic zone of Canada from a foreign fishing vessel.

Purpose

33. Parliament, recognizing

    (a) that straddling stocks on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a major renew able world food source having provided a livelihood for centuries to persons engaged in fishing,

    (b) that those stocks are threatened with extinction,

    (c) that there is an urgent need for all fishing vessels to comply both in Canadian waters and in the exclusive economic zone of Canada and in the NAFO Regulatory Area with sound conservation and management measures for those stocks, notably those measures that are taken under the Conven tion 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 contin ue to fish for those stocks in the NAFO Regulatory Area in a manner that under mines the effectiveness of sound conserva tion and management measures,

declares that the purpose of section 34 is to en able 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).

NAFO Regulatory Area

34. No foreign fishing vessel of a prescribed class shall, in the NAFO Regulatory Area, fish for a straddling stock in contravention of any of the prescribed conservation and manage ment measures.

Fishing vessels without nationality

35. No fishing vessel without nationality shall fish for a prescribed species of fish on a prescribed area of the high seas.

Provisioning in Canadian waters

36. (1) No fishing vessel shall provision a foreign fishing vessel, other than a vessel that is in distress, in Canadian waters or in the exclusive economic zone of Canada, where

    (a) the foreign fishing vessel is not autho rized to enter those waters; or

    (b) the foreign fishing vessel is engaged in any of the activities referred to in subsec tion 31(1) in those waters without being authorized to do so.

Continental shelf

(2) No Canadian fishing vessel shall provi sion a foreign fishing vessel, other than a vessel that is in distress, in the waters over the continental shelf of Canada, where the foreign fishing vessel is engaged in fishing referred to in subsection 31(2) in those waters without a licence or without being authorized to do so by the regulations or any other law of Canada or a treaty.

NAFO Regulatory Area

(3) No Canadian fishing vessel shall, in the NAFO Regulatory Area, provision a foreign fishing vessel, other than a vessel that is in distress, unless the foreign fishing vessel is flying a flag of a state that is set out in a list established by the regulations.

Application of Criminal Law

Application of criminal law

37. An act or omission that, if it occurred in Canada, would be an offence under a federal law, within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Canadian Laws Offshore Application Act, is deemed to have been committed in Canada if it occurs, in the course of enforcing this Act,

    (a) in the NAFO Regulatory Area on board or by means of a foreign fishing vessel, on board or by means of which a contravention of section 34, 35 or 36 has been committed; or

    (b) in the course of continuing pursuit that commenced while a foreign fishing vessel was in Canadian waters, the exclusive economic zone of Canada or the NAFO Regulatory Area.

Exercising powers of arrest, entry, etc.

38. (1) Every power of arrest, entry, search or seizure or other power that could be exercised in Canada with respect to an act or omission referred to in section 37 may be exercised, in the circumstances referred to in that section,

    (a) on board the foreign fishing vessel; or

    (b) where pursuit has been commenced, on any area of the sea, other than an area of the sea that forms part of the territorial sea or internal waters of another state.

Arrest, search, seizure, etc.

(2) A justice or judge in any territorial division in Canada has jurisdiction to autho rize an arrest, entry, search or seizure or an investigation or other ancillary matter related to an act or omission referred to in section 37 in the same manner as if the act or omission had been committed in that territorial divi sion.

Attorney General of Canada

(3) Where an act or omission that is an offence by virtue only of section 37 is alleged to have been committed on board or by means of a vessel that is registered or licensed under the laws of a state other than Canada, the powers referred to in subsection (1) may not be exercised outside Canada with respect to that act or omission without the consent of the Attorney General of Canada.

Territorial division

(4) A proceeding in respect of

    (a) an offence consisting of a contravention of section 34, 35 or 36, or

    (b) an act or omission referred to in section 37,

that is committed outside Canada may, wheth er or not the accused is in Canada, be com menced in any territorial division in Canada, and the accused may be tried and punished for that offence in the same manner as if the of fence had been committed in that territorial di vision.

Information Returns

Persons who may be required to provide information

39. (1) The following persons shall, in accordance with the regulations, the licences or leases held by them or any instructions of a fishery officer or fishery guardian, keep the information, records, books of account or other documents described in subsection (2):

    (a) any person who engages in fishing;

    (b) any person who buys fish for the purpose of resale;

    (c) any owner, operator or manager of an enterprise that catches, cultures, processes, lands or transports fish;

    (d) any person who provides services to commercial or recreational fishers; and

    (e) any agent or employee of a person referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (d).

Information that may be required

(2) The information, records, books of account or other documents referred to in subsection (1) are information, records, books of account or other documents relating to any of the following matters:

    (a) the number, quantity, sex, size, weight, species, product form, value or other partic ulars of any fish caught, cultured, pro cessed, landed, transported, sold or pur chased;

    (b) the time and place at which any fish was caught or landed and the person, enterprise or fishing vessel by which the fish was caught or landed;

    (c) the time and place at which any fish was purchased and the person, enterprise or fishing vessel from which the fish was purchased;

    (d) the fishing vessels, gear and methods used and the number of persons employed for the purpose of fishing;

    (e) the buildings, equipment, products and methods used and the number of persons employed for the purpose of culturing or processing fish; and

    (f) any other matter relating to the manage ment and control of fisheries or to the conservation and protection of fish.

Provision of information, etc.

(3) A person who is required by this section to keep information, records, books of account or other documents shall provide them within the time and in the form and manner specified by the fishery officer or fishery guardian, or any authority designated by the officer or guardian, or by the regulations, licence, lease or instructions.

Application

Exemption

40. The fishing restrictions imposed by this Part and any regulations made under it do not apply to persons who are carrying out their duties or functions related to the administra tion or enforcement of this Act or those regulations.

Regulations

Regulations

41. (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Part and in particular, but without restricting the generality of the fore going, may make regulations

    (a) for the proper management and control of fisheries;

    (b) respecting the conservation and protec tion of fish;

    (c) respecting the catching, loading, land ing, handling, transporting, possession, processing and disposal of fish;

    (d) respecting the operation of fishing vessels;

    (e) respecting the use of fishing gear and equipment;

    (f) respecting the marking, identification and tracking of fishing vessels;

    (g) respecting the designation of persons as observers or dockside monitors, their duties and their carriage on board fishing vessels or presence on docks, as the case may be;

    (h) prohibiting fishing or other related activities without a licence and respecting the issuance of licences;

    (i) where a closed time, fishing quota or limit on the size or weight of fish has been fixed in respect of an area, authorizing persons engaged or employed in the admin istration or enforcement of this Act to vary the closed time, fishing quota or limit in respect of that area or any portion of that area;

    (j) respecting the entering into of fisheries management agreements, including the obtaining of any ratifications required for those agreements;

    (k) respecting the export of fish from Canada, the import of fish into Canada and the bringing of fish from any province to any other province;

    (l) respecting the harvesting of marine plants in Canadian waters that are not within a province;

    (m) prescribing the fees or the manner of calculating fees that may be charged by Her Majesty in right of Canada with respect to the issuance of licences and the granting of leases, including the variation or rescission of, or addition to, conditions of a licence on the application of the holder;

    (n) authorizing the destruction of fish by any means other than fishing;

    (o) authorizing foreign fishing vessels to enter Canada or the exclusive economic zone of Canada

      (i) to engage in any activity referred to in subsection 31(1), or

      (ii) for any purpose specified in the regulations;

    (p) authorizing Canadian fishing vessels to bring into Canadian waters or the exclusive economic zone of Canada fish received outside Canadian waters and the exclusive economic zone of Canada from foreign fishing vessels;

    (q) prescribing classes of foreign fishing vessels and conservation and management measures for the purposes of section 34;

    (r) prescribing species of fish and areas of the high seas for the purposes of section 35;

    (s) establishing the list referred to in subsection 36(3); and

    (t) prescribing any other thing that by this Part is to be or may be prescribed.

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