Modernizing Ontario’s approach to cage aquaculture through enhanced licensing and occupational authority

Cage aquaculture is the farming of fish in floating and/or submersible net pens in lakes or other waters. These pens maintain an open exchange of water for raising fish until they are of market size, then sold for human consumption. Currently, there are six (6) provincially licensed cage aquaculture sites located in the North Channel of Lake Huron and Parry Sound.

Under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 (FWCA) and supporting regulations including Ontario Regulation 664/98, a licence is required to engage in aquaculture. Occupational authority for Crown land is also required under the Public Lands Act (PLA).

To modernize Ontario’s approach to cage aquaculture, we are implementing three initiatives that enhance licencing under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act and occupational authority under the Public Lands Act, including:

1. Extending FWCA licence terms from the current five-year term to twenty-year terms, while still maintaining licence condition obligations for annual water quality and five-year sediment monitoring
2. Standardize FWCA licensing conditions to ensure that conditions on aquaculture licenses are consistent for all operators, including water quality monitoring, sediment quality monitoring and other requirements to ensure quality and standards are met
3. Transition current PLA land use permits for FWCA licensed operations into a combination of PLA leases (core facilities) and easements (buffer area around facilities). We will also issue enhanced occupational authority for a 20-year period, to match the new 20-year FWCA licences.