Fisheries and Oceans Canada

A modernized Fisheries Act for Canada

/in

On June 21, 2019 Canada modernized the Fisheries Act.

On August 28th, 2019 provisions of the new Fisheries Act came into force including new protections for fish and fish habitat in the form of standards, codes of practice, and guidelines for projects near water.

Changes to the Fisheries Act will help:

  • restore protections for fish and fish habitat
  • enhance marine protection and habitat restoration
  • improve management of projects
  • preserve independent inshore fisheries
  • strengthen Indigenous role in project reviews, monitoring and policy development

See Introducing Canada’s modernized Fisheries Act for additional information.

Tench captured in Bay of Quinte

/in

Tench (tinca tinca) are native to Europe and western Asia, and were introduced to North America in the late 19th century for use as a food and sport fish.

In eastern Canada, Tench were illegally imported from Germany to a Quebec fish farm in the late 1980s and had escaped into the Richelieu River by the early 1990s, a tributary of the St. Lawrence River. In 2016, Tench first appeared in Ontario waters of Lake St. Francis near Cornwall, downstream of the Moses-Saunders Dam, a barrier to natural upstream dispersal.

In the October of 2018, a commercial fisherman captured a Tench in the Bay of Quinte near the Belleville water treatment plant. The fish measured 46.5 cm TL and weighed 1.39 kg. It is possible that the fish was introduced via “bait bucket transfer” as juveniles could easily be mistaken as species of baitfish.

View the Tench distribution at EDDMapS.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS) posts Grass Carp Risk Assessment Reports

/in

The following reports resulting from the June 1-3, 2015, Binational Ecological Risk Assessment for Grass Carp in the Great Lakes Basin were posted on the Canadian Advisory Secretariat’s website today: Read more

CARS announces 2016 inductees to “Legends of Canadian Fisheries Science and Management”

/in

Canada has a long and illustrious history in fisheries science and management. Indeed, many scientific discoveries, assessment tools, and even contemporary management strategies can be attributed to Canadian fisheries professionals. The Canadian Aquatic Resources Section of the American Fisheries Society has launched a program called “Legends of Canadian Fisheries Science and Management”. Read more

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Government of Canada launches public consultation on changes to the Fisheries Act

/in

Online public consultation marks the first step in following through with the commitment to restore lost protections and incorporate modern safeguards

Ottawa, Ontario – Thriving fish populations and healthy fish habitat are vital to the well-being of Canadian society. The Government of Canada is inviting Canadians to join in a conversation about the protections needed to ensure our fish have a healthy environment to live, feed and reproduce, and healthy corridors to migrate between these places. Read more

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

DFO’s 2015 Outstanding Scientific Paper of the Year Award

/in

The 2015 Outstanding Science Paper of the Year Award has been awarded to Assessing Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences of Growth-Accelerated Genetically Engineered Fishes (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biv068), authored by Dr. Robert Devlin (Research Scientist, Pacific Region), Dr. L. Fredrik Sundström (Uppsala University, Sweden) and Dr. Rosalind Leggatt (Visiting Scientist, Pacific Region). This paper was published in BioScience in June 2015. Read more

CARS announces 2015 inductees to “Legends of Canadian Fisheries Science and Management”

/in

Canada has a long and illustrious history in fisheries science and management. Indeed, many scientific discoveries, assessment tools, and even contemporary management strategies can be attributed to Canadian fisheries professionals. The Canadian Aquatic Resources Section of the American Fisheries Society has launched a program called “Legends of Canadian Fisheries Science and Management”. Read more

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

AFS-OC Members Win DFO’s 2014 Outstanding Scientific Paper of the Year Award

/in

The 2014 DFO Outstanding Scientific Paper of the Year is Bycatch, bait, anglers, and roads: quantifying vector activity and propagule introduction risk across lake ecosystems (https://doi.org/10.1890/13-0541.1), co-authored by Dr. D. Andrew R. Drake and Dr. Nicholas E. Mandrak. The article was published in Ecological Applications.

Invasive Grass Carp Found on Toronto’s Waterfront

/in

Two Asian Grass Carp have been found within a contained pond in Tommy Thompson Park along Toronto’s Waterfront. Toronto and Region Conservation (TRCA) staff discovered the first live Grass Carp Monday, July 27 while relocating fish from the pond as part of the construction of a nine hectare wetland.
Read more

MNRF Releases Provincial Fish Strategy

/in

In April 2015, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry launched the Provincial Fish Strategy, Fish for the Future, to provide up-to-date direction for the management of Ontario’s fish, fisheries and supporting ecosystems. The Strategy was developed through extensive input and the engagement of Aboriginal communities, agency partners and key stakeholders. Read more