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Fisheries and Oceans Canada is responsible for licensing all aquaculture facilities in British Columbia. The aquaculture licence and conditions of licence are designed to ensure the sustainable operation and development of the aquaculture industry. The following lists contain details related to currently licensed aquaculture facilities in British Columbia.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada requires operators of active marine finfish aquaculture sites in British Columbia to monitor for benthic (seabed) impacts. The benthic monitoring program is designed to limit the location, area, and intensity of impact created by fish farms to the seabed and to support sustainable aquaculture by maintaining healthy ecosystems. In addition to the monitoring and reporting required of licence holders, DFO staff biologists conduct field audits to collect and assess sediment samples and take video of the seafloor. This information is used to determine compliance and learn more about benthic impacts during different times of the production cycle.

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.

Microsatelite frequencies by stock for several pacific marine species of fish.

The Pacific Region ERAF provides a comprehensive approach for assessing all threats to marine ecosystems by evaluating cumulative risk from multiple activities to multiple ecosystem components for ecosystem-based management (EBM), improving upon international and national best practices in risk assessment that focus solely on single activities (e.g., ERAFs for assessing fisheries impacts) or single ecosystem-components (e.g., habitat-based risk assessments). This project applies the Level 2 Risk Assessment framework (O et al. 2015) to the SGaan Kinghlas-Bowie Seamount Marine Protected Area (SKB MPA) to determine the relative risk to the SKB MPA ecosystem from anthropogenic activities.

The Pacific Region ERAF provides a comprehensive approach for assessing all threats to marine ecosystems by evaluating cumulative risk from multiple activities to multiple ecosystem components for ecosystem-based management (EBM), improving upon international and national best practices in risk assessment that focus solely on single activities (e.g., ERAFs for assessing fisheries impacts) or single ecosystem-components (e.g., habitat-based risk assessments). This project applies the Level 2 Risk Assessment framework (O et al. 2015) to the Hecate Strait - Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reefs Marine Protected Area (HS-QCS MPA) to determine the relative risk to the HS-QCS MPA ecosystem from anthropogenic activities.

The Pacific Region ERAF provides a comprehensive approach for assessing all threats to marine ecosystems by evaluating cumulative risk from multiple activities to multiple ecosystem components for ecosystem-based management (EBM), improving upon international and national best practices in risk assessment that focus solely on single activities (e.g., ERAFs for assessing fisheries impacts) or single ecosystem-components (e.g., habitat-based risk assessments). This project applies the Level 2 Risk Assessment framework (O et al. 2015) to the Endeavour Hydrothermal Vents Marine Protected Area (EHV MPA) to determine the relative risk to the EHV MPA ecosystem from anthropogenic activities.

The Pacific Region ERAF provides a comprehensive approach for assessing all threats to marine ecosystems by evaluating cumulative risk from multiple activities to multiple ecosystem components for ecosystem-based management (EBM), improving upon international and national best practices in risk assessment that focus solely on single activities (e.g., ERAFs for assessing fisheries impacts) or single ecosystem-components (e.g., habitat-based risk assessments). This project aims to apply this ERAF in the Pacific Region to the Pacific North Coast Integrated Management Area (PNCIMA) as a pilot project to assess the feasibility and suitability of the ERAF as a tool for determining risk of harm to ecosystem components, and its usefulness for providing transparent and defensible science-based advice on prioritising ecological risk of different activities for ecosystem-based management and MPA management. Because it is based on a subset of SECs and stressors affecting PNCIMA and the resulting scores have not been vetted by experts, the results of this pilot application should not be used for policy or management decisions at this stage.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO’s) Pacific Aquaculture Regulations and Conditions of Licence for aquaculture in B.C. require licence holders to take various fish escape prevention measures, including maintaining cage and nets in a manner to prevent the escape of farmed fish into the ocean as well as responding to remedy the cause of the escape as soon as possible. When there is evidence that an escape event has occurred, licence holders must report the incident to the department within 24 hours either through the Observe Record and Report Line (ORR 1-800-465-4336), or to a dedicated email mailbox, detailing the cause, time and location of the event and the species, size and number of fish involved. The licence holder must also provide fish health information about the stock, such as exposure to therapeutants.

The 2019 amended Fisheries Act (FA) contains a provision that will require DFO to have a public facing Registry to provide public access to records relating to fish and fish habitat protection and pollution prevention, including:

• Ministerial agreements

• Standards and Codes of practice

• Ministerial orders

• Fisheries Act Authorizations

• Permits for designated projects

• Fish habitat restoration plans

This work supports the Government’s goals around transparency, access, and accountability in federal decision-making. The new online version of the FA Registry is now available to Canadians. This latest release includes the Fisheries Act Authorizations (updated automatically.) 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.