Fisheries Act

Responsibility for the Fisheries Act (FA) rests with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The purpose of the Act is to manage threats to the sustainability and continued productivity of commercial, recreational and Aboriginal fisheries and the fish that support those fisheries. The provisions of the Act seek to protect fish and their habitat.

Subsection 35(1) of the Act states that “no person shall carry on any work, undertaking or activity that results in serious harm to fish that are part of a commercial, recreational or Aboriginal fishery, or to fish that support such a fishery,” unless such harm is authorized by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Serious harm is defined in the Act as the “death of fish or any permanent alteration to, or destruction of, fish habitat.” Fish habitat has physical, chemical and biological characteristics (substrate type, depth, flow, temperature, dissolved oxygen, riparian vegetation, etc.) that are critical to fish life processes. Section 20 protects the flow of water and the free passage of fish.

With respect to dredging and sediment management, projects that meet certain criteria or that are carried out in certain types of waterbodies are not subject to review by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. For more details on the Act and its application, visit Fisheries and Oceans Canada website.