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Fisheries and Aquaculture
March 11, 2009

New Ticketing Procedures to be Implemented by Fish Inspection Officers

The Provincial Government will be introducing changes to fish inspection and enforcement program beginning April 2009. These changes will involve provincial fish inspection staff issuing tickets for certain summary offences under the In-Province Retail Fish Establishment Regulations and Fish Inspection Operations Regulations. The department has been working with a representative from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary to train fish inspection personnel on these new procedures.

"This is a change in procedure for our fish inspection officers and it is a positive change for both government and industry," said the Honourable Tom Hedderson, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. "The introduction of ticketing into the fish inspection process will make it more effective and efficient."

Allowing fish inspectors to ticket will reduce the need to deal with the less severe summary offences through the court system. Going to court can be costly for both the industry and government in terms of time and legal fees. Under the current system, offenders and inspectors have had to appear in court to address all offences, including those that were of the most routine nature. Under the new system, offenders will be able to simply pay a fine for these summary offences.

The fine structure will range form $100 to $500, depending on the nature of the violation and will apply to harvesters, processors, graders and any individual or company handling seafood products. The purpose of provincial fish inspection procedures is to provide quality assurance and ensure food safety for the consumer. These procedures ensure that seafood products are handled and processed in a safe and clean environment. Examples of ticketable offences would be improper handling and storage of seafood.

This change in procedures was initially recommended in the Dunne Report on Fish Processing Licensing Policy in 2004. The report recommended that the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture revise its legislation and develop a ticketing system to deal with minor offences.

The department has reviewed the Fish Inspection Act and regulations. The act was substantially rewritten between 2004 and 2005. During the following two years, fish inspection regulations were repealed and replaced with a comprehensive set of new regulations which eliminated outdated and redundant provisions, and minimized duplication with federal legislation. In 2008, the department published Fish Inspection Ticket Offence Regulations. Fish inspection staff entered training and will be able to issue tickets when the training is completed and in time for this year�s fishing season.

"My department has spent years working with industry on quality assurance issues to ensure that our provincial seafood products are handled and processed in a safe manner," said Minister Hedderson. "We will now be enhancing the way we carry out our enforcement activities, to make sure that the system both protects those who buy our seafood products and provides a process that is fair to the industry."

The complete list of ticketable offences can be found in the Fish Inspection Ticket Offences Regulations at: www.assembly.nl.ca/Legislation/sr/Regulations/rc080022.htm

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Media contact:

Lori Lee Oates
Director of Communications
Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture
709-729-3733, 690-8403
oatesll@gov.nl.ca

2009 03 11                                                     10:30 a.m.


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