The Government of Canada continues to strive to be ever more open and transparent. This means a government that is open by default providing better digital capacity and services for Canadians. Under a modernized Fisheries Act, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has made available an online Fisheries Act (FA) Registry that facilitates access to data and information, including geospatial data, about projects as well as regulatory process information. The new online version of the FA Registry is now available to Canadians. The FA Registry is currently accessible through the Common Project Search Portal, a one-stop online location for Canadians to search and browse through DFO authorizations as well as projects and assessments submitted to the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada and Transport Canada. DFO will be undertaking continuous development of the Fisheries Act Registry. This release is the second step towards implementing the full FA Registry that will provide additional content as well as new features to the FA Registry, increasing transparency and proactive disclosure as well as improving digital capacity and service for Canadians.

Beginning January 1, 2000, all vessels and processors wishing to participate in the non-CDQ Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) pollock fishery are required to have valid American Fisheries Act (AFA) permits on board the vessel or at the processing plant. AFA permits are required even for vessels and processors specifically named in the AFA, and are required in addition to any other Federal or State permits. AFA permits also may limit the take of non-pollock groundfish, crab, and prohibited species as governed by AFA "sideboard" provisions.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO’s) Conditions of Licence for finfish aquaculture include requirements to minimize harm to wild fish that swim into facilities. Facility operators must also maintain an incidental catch log, which is a record of wild fish caught at the facility during harvest and transfer events. This information is submitted to DFO and public reports are posted quarterly. The tables provided list the reported incidental catch of dead wild finfish and the year and month in which they were captured from B.C. marine finfish facilities during harvest and transfer events. Data are reported in the quarter in which the harvest activities ended and will not exist for farms that do not have fish on site or where no incidentally caught fish were recorded.

The Federal Fisheries Permit (FFP) is required for vessels of the United States which are used to fish for groundfish in the Gulf of Alaska or Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. This permit is also required for vessels used to fish for any non-groundfish species and that are required to retain any bycatch of groundfish under 50 CFR Part 679. Non-groundfish species includes but is not limited to halibut, crab, salmon, scallops, and herring. "Fishing" is a broad term and includes, for example: harvesting, processing, tendering, support, etc. These are non-transferable, three year permits, issued on request and without charge to vessel owners. The Federal Processor Permit (FPP) is required for stationary floating processors (processing vessels that operate solely within Alaska State waters). The permit also is required for shoreside processors that receive and/or process groundfish harvested from Federal waters (or from any Federally-permitted vessels). FPPs are non-transferable, three year permits, issued to owners on request and without charge.

This database was established to oversee documents issued in support of fishery research activities including experimental fishing permits (EFP), letters of acknowledgement (LOA), temporary possession permits (TPP), exempted educational activity authorizations (EEAA), and scientific research permits (SRP) . Specifically, the primary objectives are: 1. Oversee research document applications; 2. Track vessels authorized to operate under these documents; and 3. Monitor the activity and catch from vessels operating under these documents.

A national Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM) Working Group (WG) was established in 2018 to (1) advance the integration of climate, oceanographic and ecological variables into single-species stock assessment and advice to support the further implementation of EAFM; and (2) to identify practical steps to advance the longer-term goal of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) involving multispecies assessment and advice. To better understand the strengths and challenges of what is currently being done across DFO stock assessments and to provide guidance on how to incorporate environmental considerations throughout the data-to-decision process, the National WG established three sub-groups, one of which was directed to develop a compilation of existing Science methods used by DFO for incorporating ecosystem variables into stock assessments and other assessment-related research activities. This data set, called the EAFM Science Methods Toolbox, is the resulting product from the Toolbox sub-group. Note that the contents of the Toolbox are meant to serve as a starting point for researchers looking to incorporate ecosystem information into their stock assessment activities, and not intended to provide an exhaustive list of available analytical tools. Researchers are cautioned to make their own assessments regarding the suitability of any tools in the Toolbox to their particular research, as well as to investigate the possibility of other tools not presently included in the Toolbox (pre-existing or new). It is expected that the Toolbox will remain ‘evergreen’ with periodic updates to reflect emerging best practices, although the exact timing and process to conduct such updates has yet to be determined.

The Amendment 80 Program was adopted by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) in June 2006. The final rule implementing Amendment 80 published in the Federal Register on September 14, 2007. This action allocates several Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands (BSAI) non-pollock trawl groundfish species among trawl fishery sectors, and facilitate the formation of harvesting cooperatives in the non-American Fisheries Act (non-AFA) trawl catcher/processor sector. The Council adopted Amendment 80 to meet the broad goals of: (1) improving retention and utilization of fishery resources by the non-AFA trawl catcher/processor fleet by extending the groundfish retention standard (GRS) to non-AFA trawl catcher/processor vessels of all lengths; (2) allocating fishery resources among BSAI trawl harvesters in consideration of historic and present harvest patterns and future harvest needs; (3) authorizing the allocation of groundfish species to harvesting cooperatives and establishing a limited access privilege program (LAPP) for the non-AFA trawl catcher/processors to reduce potential GRS compliance costs, encourage fishing practices with lower discard rates, and improve the opportunity for increasing the value of harvested species; and (4) limiting the ability of non-AFA trawl catcher/processors to expand their harvesting capacity into other fisheries not managed under a LAPP. The groundfish species in the BSAI directly affected by Amendment 80 include: - Atka mackerel - Aleutian Islands Pacific ocean perch - Flathead sole - Pacific cod - Rock sole - Yellowfin sole In addition, Amendment 80 would modify the management of halibut and crab prohibited species catch (PSC) limits.