Can a Minister of Fisheries and Oceans issue a fishing plan?

Comeau’s Sea Foods Ltd. v Canada (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans), 1997 CanLII 399 (SCC), [1997] 1 S.C.R. 12, 142 D.L.R. (4th) 193, involved the Minister’s power to issue fishing licences, not the power to adopt a fishing plan, but the following comments by Justice Major appear to be no less relevant to fishing plans: 36. It is my opinion that the Minister’s discretion under s. 7 to authorize the issuance of licences, like the Minister’s discretion to issue licences, is restricted only by the requirement of natural justice, no regulations currently being applicable. The Minister is bound to base his or her decision on relevant considerations, avoid arbitrariness and act in good faith. The result is an administrative scheme based primarily on the discretion of the Minister: see Thomson v. Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, F.C.T.D., No. T‑113-84, February 29, 1984. 37. This interpretation of the breadth of the Minister’s discretion is consonant with the overall policy of the Fisheries Act. Canada’s fisheries are a “common property resource”, belonging to all the people of Canada. Under the Fisheries Act, it is the Minister’s duty to manage, conserve and develop the fishery on behalf of Canadians in the public interest (s. 43). Licensing is a tool in the arsenal of powers available to the Minister under the Fisheries Act to manage fisheries. It restricts the entry into the commercial fishery, it limits the numbers of fishermen, vessels, gear and other aspects of commercial fishery.