The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture is involved with administering many Government Acts and Regulations, which impact on the fishing and food related industries.

In addition, information concerning the many types of licences required by these Acts and Regulations is also available. This includes licences related to the buying, selling and harvesting fish.

Food Safety information is available online such as Fact Sheets, about Food Safety Division, Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture.

DFO Notice to Nova Scotia Fish and Seafood Exporters:

As of January 1, 2010, the European Union's regulation on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is effective and any products derived from catches landed after this date will require a DFO-validated catch certificate in order for you to access the EU market.

You can now apply for these catch certificates via the Catch Certification Office (CCO) using the Fisheries Certificate System (FCS) by clicking on the link http://fcs-scp.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fcsweb/. An emergency service is available online only (no phone calls) on Saturdays from 8AM to 6PM EST and on Sundays, from 9AM to 5PM EST and on business days from 6PM to 10PM EST. Only exceptional emergency applications will be processed during those hours. Please visit the link above for more information.

If you have any questions or need assistance with the catch certificate application process including registering in FCS or applying for groupings, the CCO is available to individually assist you with these functions via telephone at 1-888-641-6464 (toll-free from anywhere in North America) or 613-998-8100 (outside of North America). You can also send your inquiry by email to CCO-BCC_Info@dfo-mpo.gc.ca, or by fax to (613) 990-5301.

You must be registered in the FCS and have any grouping requests approved (if needed) before you can apply for catch certificates, so please make sure you register and make your grouping requests at least two weeks in advance of applying for your first certificate.