Licensing, Compliance and Enforcement

Overview

Compliance and enforcement responsibilities are handled by the Aquaculture Licensing and Compliance Branch. This branch is responsible for receiving, adjudicating and issuing commercial aquaculture and seafood licences and permits. It also monitors, inspects, enforces, and reports on the commercial fisheries and aquaculture industries in order to ensure all regulations are being followed and environmental standards are adhered to.

A Comparison of BC's Current Licensing and Regulatory Requirements with Other Jurisdictions

The provincial government is committed to coordinating and streamlining compliance and enforcement activities in order to ensure high standards for environmentally responsible aquaculture. To this end, a Service Agreement has been signed by four government agencies (the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management, Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, and Integrated Land Management Bureau).

The agreement designates MAL as the lead agency responsible for compliance and MWLAP as the lead agency responsible for enforcement, serving as the investigative lead on activities associated with formal prosecutions, court orders and administrative penalties.

MAL Compliance Activities BC Salmon Farms

The compliance and enforcement activities for the Ministry’s inspection staff includes the following:

awareness, education, promotion and training activities;
promoting industry best practices, developing cooperative partnerships and agreements contributing to government objectives;
conducting monitoring, inspections and audits;
conducting investigations on alleged legislative and/or licensing violations for marine plant and wild oyster industries;
acting as initial contact for public and industry complaints for finfish and shellfish aquaculture and referring enforcement files to the Ministry of Environment;
if necessary, recommending administrative remedies such as licence suspension or cancellation; and;
public reporting on the compliance status of salmon farm inspections.