{"id":11658,"date":"2025-11-17T14:35:37","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/?p=11658"},"modified":"2025-11-17T14:35:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T17:35:38","slug":"province-to-establish-compliance-unit-to-combat-illegal-activity-in-the-fishery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/2025\/11\/17\/province-to-establish-compliance-unit-to-combat-illegal-activity-in-the-fishery\/","title":{"rendered":"Province to Establish Compliance Unit to Combat Illegal Activity in the Fishery."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Province is establishing a compliance unit to combat illegal activities in the fish buying and processing sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur new compliance unit will target illegal seafood-related activities that are negatively impacting the sustainability of our resources and the safety of our communities,\u201d said Kent Smith, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. \u201cAs the regulator of the shore-based fish buying and processing sector, these inspectors will focus their activities on the wharves and in seafood facilities where illegal activities occur.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new unit will include four inspectors responsible for monitoring, inspecting and investigating regulatory compliance and acting on offences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They will work with federal and provincial enforcement services, including Department of Natural Resources conservation officers. Enforcement actions could include fines, licence suspension, loss of licence and formal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Province is also setting up a new audit program and developing stronger summary offence tickets with penalties to match the seriousness of the activity; options include suspending and\/or terminating a fish buyer and\/or processor licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These new steps build on the actions that the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture has already taken, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>increased maximum fines under the Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act to $1 million from $100,000 for the first offence and up to $2 million for a second offence<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>modernized the Fish Buyers and Fish Processors Regulations and policies with clearer requirements for agents, designated buyers, buyers and processors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>implemented new licence conditions to require enhanced reporting of buying data to help with enforcement and compliance; the Province is also investigating improved ways to trace lobster and snow crab, Nova Scotia\u2019s most valuable species<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>hired a new licence compliance analyst to assess buyer and processor data for non-compliance and to collaborate with other enforcement agencies<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>contracted a forensic accounting firm to carry out in-depth, third-party forensic audits of records collected from licensed buyers and processors to assess potential wrongdoing<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>continuing to push for modern cross-jurisdictional regulatory tools like boat-to-plate traceability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quotes:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s announcement is a clear indication of the Province\u2019s continued commitment to ensuring a fair playing field for all enterprises operating in the seafood sector. A focused compliance unit will help stamp out illegal activity and boost the prosperity for all participants in the industry.\u201d<br>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Kris Vascotto, Executive Director, Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile most harvesters and buyers play by the rules, it has become clear in recent years that much more needs to be done to effectively deter and root out illegal or unreported transactions from our industry. This requires urgent and collaborative actions by both levels of government. Nova Scotia continues to show the way forward with the deployment of this new compliance team.\u201d<br>\u2014&nbsp;<em>Nat Richard, Executive Director, Lobster Processors Association<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick Facts:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>up to 30 per cent of annual lobster landings in Atlantic Canada go unreported, representing up to $400 million in unrealized taxable income for Nova Scotia<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>conservation officers with the Department of Natural Resources will continue to provide support to combat illegal fisheries activities<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Source : Provincial Release <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Province is establishing a compliance unit to combat illegal activities in the fish buying and processing sector. \u201cOur new<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10,12,13,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-general","category-latest","category-news","category-top-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11658"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11658\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11660,"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11658\/revisions\/11660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nnpress.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}