To The Haldimand Press
HALDIMAND—The Ontario government is working with commercial fishers across the Great Lakes region to develop a modernized licensing and reporting process for the industry that will allow faster licence renewals and easier harvest reporting.
The industry has expressed a desire to go digital and to move to an interactive online system. The government is working with the industry to explore which services could be moved online.
“We are listening to the industry and working with them to modernize processes to make doing business easier and more efficient,” said Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. “By making these changes we are supporting Ontario’s commercial fishing industry, which contributes more than $200 million to Ontario’s economy each year.”
The goal is to make it easier for the commercial fishing industry to interact with government while enhancing the sustainable management of fisheries for future generations.
“Modernization of the licensing and reporting system is a big move forward for the industry,” said Jane Graham, Executive Director of the Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association. “It will provide significant benefits by streamlining the process of renewing annual commercial fishing licences, making the process less cumbersome. This will ensure information is more readily available to both industry and government.”
The commercial fishing industry has been a historically important part of Ontario’s economy. Commercial fishers and fish processors contribute to their local economy and provide good jobs in communities across the province.
Ontario is home to one of the largest sustainable freshwater commercial fisheries in the world with more than 600 active licences. The ministry sets annual quotas and issues annual licences to support the sustainable commercial harvest of fish. Between 2016 and 2020, commercial fishers collectively received $40.7 million, on average, for fish they harvested. On average, between 2016 and 2020, commercial fishers harvested more than 22 million pounds of fish annually.
