Aquaculture regulatory review

Government has completed a regulatory review of Nova Scotia's aquaculture regulations. The goal of the review was to identify ways to improve the regulations, so they support the low-impact, sustainable growth of the aquaculture industry.

Government contracted Davis Pier Consulting to facilitate the review and engagements with stakeholders and the public to collect their input on the regulations. The Aquaculture Regulatory Advisory Committee submitted a Final Report and recommendations to the Minister in March 2023.

There were 3 themes in the recommendations:

applying the right level of regulation to both small and large operations
sharing more information and making it easier to find and understand for better transparency
creating more opportunity for public participation in the application process for licences.

Review timeline and status

2022

Information gathering and jurisdictional review
Stakeholder consultation and engagement with Mi’kmaq communities (June to August 2022)
Public consultation survey (August to September 2022)
Meetings of the Aquaculture Regulatory Advisory Committee (June to December 2022)

2023 to 2024

Meeting of the Advisory Committee (January 2023)
Publish What We Heard Summary Report (PDF) from public consultation
Aquaculture Regulatory Advisory Committee provides recommendations to the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture (March 2023)
Department assesses recommendations and prepares legislative or regulatory changes (in progress)
Continued engagement of the Aquaculture Regulatory Advisory Committee (ongoing)
Legislative or regulatory changes as directed by the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture (in progress)

Reports

Learn more: Aquaculture – Laws and regulations

News releases

Recommendations on Aquaculture Regulations – 17 March 17 2023

Aquaculture Regulatory Review Engagement Report Available – 2 March 2023

Public Consultation on Aquaculture Regulations – 9 August 2022