Maritime Zones

• The Oceans Act designates six maritime zones in Canada’s ocean estate: internal waters; territorial sea (up to 12 nautical miles); contiguous zone (12 to 24 NM); exclusive economic zone (12 to 200 NM); Continental shelf (12 to 200 NM); and high seas (area beyond a coastal state’s continental shelf).
  
  

Pacific Fishery

• The Pacific fishery includes salmon, rockfish, halibut, sablefish, Pacific hake and spiny dogfish. Gear includes longlines, bottom trawls and trolling gear.
  
  

Atlantic Fishery

• In the Atlantic fishery, pelagic or open ocean fish include Atlantic herring, Atlantic mackerel and bluefin tuna, swordfish, porbeagle shark, mako and blue shark. Longline gear captures sharks, swordfish and other tunas.
  
  

Challenges

• According to the David Suzuki Foundation, the longline fishery harvested swordfish and tuna, but also caught endangered turtles, many over-fished species and seabirds that are discarded. Deep-sea bottom trawls catch the longspine thornyhead, a species of special concern to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada.
  
  

Commercial Value

• According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the 2008 commercial landings value totaled $1.8 billion.