Nova Scotia judge upholds fisheries minister’s right to impose licence moratorium

HALIFAX — The right of Nova Scotia’s fisheries minister to impose a moratorium on new licences for fish buyers and processors has been upheld in a recent court decision.

Last week, Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice James Chipman dismissed an appeal by Meteghan, N.S., lobster processor Lobster Hub Inc., related to the moratorium that has been in place since 2018.

The company launched the appeal in April after applications to expand its processing licence to include snow crab and other species were rejected by three different fisheries ministers over a three-year period. Lobster Hub filed its initial request to the provincial Fisheries Department in February 2021.

The company’s application was turned down by then-Liberal fisheries minister Keith Colwell and then two subsequent attempts were rejected by Progressive Conservative ministers Steve Craig and Kent Smith, who is now the current minister.

In his decision, Chipman wrote that the Fisheries and Coastal Resources Act gives the minister “authority to supervise and control the orderly development of the fisheries industry which would necessarily include controlling the number and types of new licences issued.”

Lobster Hub had argued that the ministers’ decisions were “unreasonable, incorrect and/or procedurally unfair” because the department had not applied the moratorium consistently. The company also argued the rejections ran contrary to the intention and purpose of the legislation; were contrary to the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement; and relied on arbitrary or irrelevant considerations.

However, Chipman rejected all of the arguments, saying the minister has broad powers over fish buying and processing, and the authority to determine what is in the public interest under the act.

“The minister clearly has the statutory authority to create and administer policies,” the judge said. “The moratorium is one such policy.”

Chipman noted that in all three instances, the ministers rejected the company’s application citing an ongoing policy review that had halted the issuing of new licences. He said the act gives the minister “ample authority” to pause licensing while the policy review is underway “if he is satisfied it is in the public interest to do so.”

The judge also noted in his decision that former fisheries minister Steve Craig told Lobster Hub in March 2023 that the licensing policy review was nearing an end and the government was expecting to lift the moratorium once the review was completed.

But in an email Tuesday, Deborah Bayer, a spokeswoman for the Fisheries Department, would only say that the “pause” remains in effect for issuing new licences.

“On the licensing policy review, we continue to connect with those in the sector,” Bayer said. “We met with them earlier this year, and we intend to meet with them again soon.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press