Nova Scotia will lift moratorium on seafood processing and buying licences in 2023

Nova Scotia will end its five-year moratorium on issuing new seafood processing and buying licences, CBC News has learned.

The "temporary" moratorium was imposed in 2018 while the province reviewed its licensing regime.

Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Steve Craig said he does not know why the freeze was imposed by the previous Liberal government.

"I've even had people tell me that the moratorium is the policy, which is not the case. This year you will find that the moratorium is gone and we'll have a policy in place," Craig told CBC News.

Harvesting is regulated by the federal government, but once the catch is landed, it becomes the responsibility of the province, which issues licences and permits covering purchase, transport, storage and processing of seafood.

Industry asked for limits

The Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance lobbied for the moratorium, which still allowed for the sale or transfer of an existing licence.

The industry association representing plant owners and buyers argued then and maintains today that there is not enough supply to justify new entrants and the freeze protects the investment, infrastructure and time put in by the existing licence-holders.

Osborne Burke, general manager of Victoria Co-operative Fisheries Ltd. and president of the Seafood Alliance, said limited entry should be maintained for live product dealers and processors. He specially mentioned lobster and snow crab.

"Our bottom line, whether he removes the moratorium or not, there should be no net increase in the number of licences. Everybody's chasing the same amount of raw material," Burke told CBC News.

"We have far too much capacity for the amount of raw material now in Nova Scotia," he said, referring to the snow crab processing business.

Met with minister

The alliance submitted its latest proposal to the minister during a meeting at the recent North American Seafood Expo in Boston.

Craig said he is not in a position to provide details about the next steps.

"I don't know what's going to happen after it's lifted.... There will be all kinds of constraints around getting a licence and there are standards that you'll have to meet," he said.

"There are young Nova Scotians who are not able to grow their businesses, even older Nova Scotians who aren't able to grow their businesses. And we need to be able to look at what it takes to have a modern system where Nova Scotians who are highly competitive in this area can thrive," he said.