Bill C-237

An Act to amend the Fisheries Act (Atlantic groundfish fisheries)

Sponsor

Jonathan Rowe Conservative

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Second reading (House), as of Sept. 23, 2025

Subscribe to a feed (what's a feed?) of speeches and votes in the House related to Bill C-237.

Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment amends the Fisheries Act in order to provide measures for the management of Atlantic groundfish fisheries, including the harmonization, across Atlantic provinces, of close times in Canadian fisheries waters of the Atlantic Ocean that are used for recreational fishing of groundfish.
It also amends the reporting obligations of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans in respect of the administration and enforcement of the provisions of the Act, and adds a matter in relation to which certain persons may be required to provide information or keep records or other documents under the Act.
Finally, it requires that the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans develop a monitoring system to record, by species, the number of fish that are caught, as well as the time at which and place where they are caught.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other C-237s:

C-237 (2022) An Act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act and the Canada Health Act

C-237 (2021) Law National Framework for Diabetes Act

C-237 (2020) National Framework for Diabetes Act

C-237 (2016) Candidate Gender Equity Act

1^st reading

Fisheries ActRoutine Proceedings

September 22nd, 2025 / 3:40 p.m.

Conservative

Jonathan Rowe Conservative Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-237, An Act to amend the Fisheries Act (Atlantic groundfish fisheries).

Mr. Speaker, whether I am in Trinity Bay, Bonavista Bay or any other bay in Newfoundland and Labrador, the number one topic of concern is our food fishery. The collapse of our cod fishery was over 30 years ago. Stocks are up, and even commercial fishing has begun, yet my family and I cannot go out and get a codfish on a Wednesday afternoon. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are fed up. People in other parts of Atlantic Canada can fish any day of the week, but we are restricted to weekends.

It is disappointing that the struggling families, the ones that cannot afford groceries because of Liberal policies, are the ones that cannot go out on a Thursday afternoon to get a codfish when the weather is calm. Instead they have to wait until the weekend, their only weekend off, to risk their life in high winds and high waves.

Not only does the bill have mechanisms that would help improve science and data, but at its foundation it would also put Newfoundland and Labrador on an even playing field with the rest of Atlantic Canada, allowing us to fish seven days a week.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)