Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO; french: Pêches et Océans Canada, MPO), is a department of the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and scientific interests in oceans and inland waters. Its mandate includes responsibility for the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's fisheries resources while continuing to provide safe, effective and environmentally sound marine services that are responsive to the needs of Canadians in a global economy. The federal government is constitutionally mandated for conservation and protection of fisheries resources in all Canadian fisheries waters. However, the department is largely focused on the conservation and allotment of harvests of salt water fisheries on the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts of Canada. The department works toward conservation and protection of inland freshwater fisheries, such as on the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...

and

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Its southern end is about north of t ...

through cooperative agreements with various provinces. Provincial governments have enacted provincial fisheries legislation, for the licensing of their fisheries. With the exception of Saskatchewan, conservation rules for freshwater fisheries are enacted under the ''Fisheries Act''; six provinces administer these regulations in their own fisheries. To address the need for conservation, the department has an extensive science branch, with research institutes across the country. Typically the science branch provides evidence for the need of conservation of various species, which are then regulated by the department. DFO also maintains a large enforcement branch with

peace officer A law enforcement officer (LEO), or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include campaign disclosure specialists, local police officers, prose ...

s (known as fishery officers) used to combat poaching and foreign overfishing within Canada's Exclusive Economic Zone. DFO is responsible for several organizations, including the

Canadian Coast Guard The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG; french: links=no, Garde côtière canadienne, GCC) is the coast guard of Canada. Formed in 1962, the coast guard is tasked with marine search and rescue (SAR), communication, navigation, and transportation issues ...

, the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation and the Canadian Hydrographic Service.

History

The Department of Marine and Fisheries was created on July 1, 1867, although it did not receive legislative authority until May 22, 1868. The department's political representative in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

was the minister of marine and fisheries, with the first minister having been Peter Mitchell. The department was headquartered in the Centre Block of

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (french: Colline du Parlement, colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Its Gothic revival suite of buildings, and their archit ...

until the fire of 1916, after which it was moved into the West Block and then off Parliament Hill entirely when new government office buildings were constructed in Ottawa.

Operations

DFO is organized into seven administrative regions which collectively cover all provinces and territories of Canada.

Responsibilities

The department's responsibilities were described as follows:

Sea-Coast and Inland Fisheries,
Trinity House "Three In One" , formation = , founding_location = Deptford, London, England , status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity , purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons , he ...
s, Trinity Boards, Pilots, Decayed Pilots Funds, Beacons, Buoys, Lights and Lighthouses and their maintenance, Harbours, Ports, Piers, Wharves, Steamers and Vessels belonging to the Government of Canada, except gunboats or other vessels of war, harbour commissioners, harbour masters, classification of vessels, examination and granting of certificates of masters and mates, and others in the merchant service, shipping masters and shipping offices, inspection of steamboats and board of steamboat inspection, enquiries into causes of shipwrecks, establishment, regulation and maintenance of marine and seamen hospitals, and care of distressed seamen, and generally such matters as refer to the marine and navigation of Canada.

Responsibility for the construction and operation of

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

was given to the

department of public works This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

at the time of

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

, with the canals of the United Province of Canada having been previously operated by that colony's department of public works.

Marine Service of Canada

In its early days, one of the department's most active agencies was the operation of the Marine Service of Canada, which became the forerunner to the

, with vessels dedicated to performing maintenance of buoys and lighthouses. Whereas fisheries management was not as important as it became in the latter part of the 20th century, a major responsibility for the Department of Marine and Fisheries included the provisioning of rescue stations and facilities at the shipwreck sites of

Sable Island Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island ...

and St. Paul Island off Nova Scotia. The department also had responsibility for overseeing the qualification of apprenticing sailors who desired to become mates or shipping masters, as well as several marine police forces, which attempted to combat illegal crimping, the trafficking of sailors in human bondage at major ports. The foray into enforcement saw the department operate the "Dominion cruisers" which were armed enforcement vessels operating for the Fisheries Protection Service of Canada, a continuation of the

Provincial Marine Provincial Marine was a coastal protection service in charge of the waters in the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River and parts of Lake Champlain under British control. While ships of the Provincial Marine were designated HMS, they were ...

enforcement agencies of the

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...

n colonies. These ships and other chartered schooners and the like, would cruise the fishing grounds off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, watching for violations within Canada's

territorial sea The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and poten ...

, then only three nautical miles (6 km) from shore.

Naval service

Prior to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Canada had limited naval forces, with the majority of protection having been provided by the enforcement vessels of the Department of Marine and Fisheries (Dominion Cruisers) or Fisheries Protection Service of Canada, and by Britain's

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. In 1909-1910, the Department of Marine and Fisheries became linked to efforts to develop a Canadian naval force, when on March 29, 1909, a member of parliament, George Foster, introduced a resolution in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

calling for the establishment of a "Canadian Naval Service". The resolution was not successful; however, on January 12, 1910, the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Sir Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minist ...

took Foster's resolution and introduced it as the Naval Service Bill. After a third reading, the bill received royal assent on May 4, 1910, and became the ''

Naval Service Act The ''Naval Service Act'' was a statute of the Parliament of Canada, enacted in 1910. The Act was put forward by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier to establish a Canadian navy. Prior to the passage of the Act, Canad ...

'', administered by the minister of marine and fisheries at the time. The official title of the navy was the "Naval Service of Canada" (also "Canadian Naval Forces"), and the first Director of the Naval Service of Canada was Rear-Admiral

Charles Kingsmill Admiral Sir Charles Edmund Kingsmill, (7 July 1855 – 15 July 1935) was a Canadian-born naval officer and the first director of the Department of the Naval Service of Canada. After retiring from a career in the Royal Navy, he played a prominen ...

(Royal Navy, retired), who was previously in charge of the marine service of the Department of Marine and Fisheries. The Naval Service of Canada changed its name to "

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

" on January 30, 1911, but it was not until August 29, 1911, that the use of "''Royal'' Canadian Navy" was permitted by

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

Enforcement

The Conservation & Protection (C&P) program is responsible for fisheries enforcement. The program aims to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of Canada's aquatic resources and the protection of species at risk, fish habitat, and oceans, not always successfully. C&P collaborates with a variety of domestic partners, including the

, other federal departments, other levels of government, industry, First Nations communities, recreational fishing groups, and others. Internationally, C&P participates in or indirectly contributes to more than a dozen regional fisheries management organizations (e.g.,

Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO) is an intergovernmental organization with a mandate to provide scientific advice and management of fisheries in the northwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean. NAFO is headquartered in Halifax, N ...

and the

North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) is an international, inter-governmental organization dedicated to the conservation of anadromous fish stocks in international waters of the North Pacific Ocean and its adjacent seas. It was estab ...

). C&P promotes compliance with legislation, regulations and management measures through education and shared stewardship initiatives; conducts monitoring, control, and surveillance activities using surface vessels, aerial surveillance aircraft and land patrols; and manages major cases and special investigations. The program includes operational enforcement units in DFO's six regions, the National Fisheries Intelligence Service, the National Digital Forensics Service and Program and Operational Readiness. Enforcement activities are conducted by three types of officials that are designated under the Fisheries Act: fishery officers, fishery guardians, and fishery inspectors. Fishery officers are designated under section 5(1) of the act and defined as

peace officers A law enforcement officer (LEO), or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws. The phrase can include campaign disclosure specialists, local police officers, prose ...

under the Criminal Code (Canada) with the authority to enforce all provisions of the act and other related acts (e.g., the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act) and their regulations. There are currently more than 600 fishery officers serving in more than 100 detachments and offices across Canada. DFO's chief fishery officer is the Director General, Conservation & Protection; as of April 2019, the incumbent is Darren Goetze. Fishery guardians are also designated under section 5(1) of the act and as peace officers but are not necessarily employed by the department. For example, a provincial conservation officer may be designated as a fishery guardian for the purpose of enforcing the act. In general, fishery guardians cannot conduct a search unless authorized by a warrant or conditions are met under the warrantless search provisions of the criminal code. Under the Aboriginal Guardian Program, certain First Nations may submit to the minister to designate certain band members as guardians. In October 2017, DFO and the National Indigenous Fisheries Institute (NIFI) launched a full and collaborative review of the department's indigenous programs, including the Aboriginal Guardian Program. Fishery inspectors are designated under section 38(1) of the act, specifically to enforce the pollution prevention sections of the Fisheries Act. They are not peace officers and have limited powers ''vis-à-vis'' the other two designations.

Departmental name changes

Since confederation, the responsibilities of the original Department of Marine and Fisheries, namely the Fisheries Service and the Marine Service, have transferred to several other departments. The legal name of the department is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It is also referred to as "Fisheries and Oceans Canada" under the

Federal Identity Program The Federal Identity Program (FIP) is the Government of Canada's corporate identity program. The purpose of the FIP is to provide to the public a consistent and unified image for federal government projects and activities. Other objectives of th ...

. *1867 - 1884 Department of Marine and Fisheries *1884 - 1892 Department of Fisheries *1892 - 1914 Department of Marine and Fisheries *1914 - 1920 Department of Naval Services *1920 - 1930 Department of Marine and Fisheries *1930 - 1969 Department of Fisheries *1930 - 1935 Department of Marine* *1969 - 1971 Department of Fisheries and Forestry *1971 - 1976 Department of the Environment *1976 - 1979 Department of Fisheries and the Environment *1979 - 2020 Department of Fisheries and Oceans *In 1935, the Department of Marine was merged with the

Department of Railways and Canals The Department of Railways and Canals is a former department of the Government of Canada. It had responsibility for the construction, operation, and maintenance of federal government-owned railways, as well as the operational responsibility for ca ...

and the Civil Aviation Branch of the Department of National Defence to form the Department of Transport, also known as

Transport Canada Transport Canada (french: Transports Canada) is the department within the Government of Canada responsible for developing regulations, policies and services of road, rail, marine and air transportation in Canada. It is part of the Transporta ...

Related legislation

Text of each law and its regulations can be found by entering the name of the law at the Canadian Legal Information Institute website. * Canada Shipping Act * Canada Shipping Act, 2001 * Coastal Fisheries Protection Act * Department of Fisheries and Oceans Act * Financial Administration Act * Fish Inspection Act * Fisheries Act, which enables the department to establish the 34 Marine Refuges, which are functionally identical to fisheries area closures. * Fisheries Development Act * Fisheries Prices Support Act (repealed) * Fishing and Recreational Harbours Act * Freshwater Fish Marketing Act * Navigable Waters Protection Act * Oceans Act, which creates the 14

Marine Protected Areas Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conserv ...

Species at Risk Act The ''Species at Risk Act'' (SARA) (the ''Act'') is a piece of Canadian federal legislation which became law in Canada on December 12, 2002. It is designed to meet one of Canada's key commitments under the International Convention on Biological D ...

References

External links

Canadian Legal Information Institute

Fisheries and Oceans Canada
*
The University of Toronto Archives houses some material concerning the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.Archival papers held at University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisheries And Oceans Canada Fisheries protection Federal departments and agencies of Canada Federal law enforcement agencies of Canada Fisheries in Canada Fisheries and Oceans Ministries established in 1868 1867 establishments in Canada