Can I sell fresh & frozen fish and seafood in BC?

Your own catch, as a licensed commercial fisher

• At a farmers’ market

  A market with a market manager — farmers’ markets, Christmas markets, craft fairs

  No

  Not under your fisher vendor licence. The regulation lets a commercial fisher hand over their catch only from the boat or to licensed businesses, and the Ministry says the licence “does not authorize” sales at farmers’ markets or by the roadside. To sell at a market, have your catch processed, packed and frozen by a licensed seafood processor and apply to Island Health for a Letter of Confirmation — see the “processed by a licensed seafood processor” row.

• At a festival or event

  Fairs, festivals, sports events, fundraisers — anything that is not a market

  No

  Not under your fisher vendor licence. It covers selling from your boat and to licensed businesses only, and at events Island Health also wants food to come from an approved premises. Fish that a licensed seafood processor has processed and packed can go to an event under Island Health’s event rules.

• From your door, shop or farm gate

  Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it

  Yes, if

  Yes — straight off the boat that caught it. The fisher vendor licence lets you sell to the public only “directly from the vessel from which the catch was harvested” (or to licensed businesses), so not from your home, a truck or a shop. The boat is your licensed premises and must meet the licence’s handling rules.

  • A fisher vendor licence ($30; it lasts a year at most).
  • Handed over from the vessel to people buying for themselves.
  • On board, only stunning, bleeding, heading, gutting, icing, freezing and packing — and only while at sea; filleting, or any processing once moored, needs a seafood processor licence. Fresh fish at 0–4°C, frozen at −18°C or colder, with storage temperatures recorded every day.
  • A record of every sale — date, quantity by species, amount received, and the buyer’s contact details when it’s a business — kept for 3 years.
  • Oysters, clams, mussels and scallops: only from a harvest area open at the time (Fisheries and Oceans Canada closes areas for biotoxins and pollution), and they normally reach the public through a federally licensed shellfish plant that tags them — ask the Ministry before selling bivalves off the boat.

• Online, with pickup or delivery

  Orders taken online, by message or by phone

  Yes, if

  Yes, if the customer picks up at your boat — no home delivery. The licence lets you hand your catch to the public only “directly from the vessel”, so taking orders online or by phone is fine but delivering to homes is not. Deliveries to licensed restaurants and shops are allowed (see that column).

  • A fisher vendor licence ($30; it lasts a year at most).
  • Collected from the vessel that caught it.
  • No home delivery, couriers or shipping.
  • On board, only stunning, bleeding, heading, gutting, icing, freezing and packing — and only while at sea; filleting, or any processing once moored, needs a seafood processor licence. Fresh fish at 0–4°C, frozen at −18°C or colder, with storage temperatures recorded every day.
  • Oysters, clams, mussels and scallops: only from a harvest area open at the time (Fisheries and Oceans Canada closes areas for biotoxins and pollution), and they normally reach the public through a federally licensed shellfish plant that tags them — ask the Ministry before selling bivalves off the boat.

• To shops, cafés & restaurants

  Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store

  Yes, if

  Yes, to shops and restaurants that hold an Island Health permit. The licence lets you supply any business licensed or permitted under BC’s food laws, and those businesses don’t need a fish receiver licence to buy from you. Keep a record of every delivery.

  • A fisher vendor licence ($30; it lasts a year at most).
  • The buyer holds a permit or licence under BC’s food laws.
  • On board, only stunning, bleeding, heading, gutting, icing, freezing and packing — and only while at sea; filleting, or any processing once moored, needs a seafood processor licence. Fresh fish at 0–4°C, frozen at −18°C or colder, with storage temperatures recorded every day.
  • A record of every sale — date, quantity by species, amount received, and the buyer’s contact details when it’s a business — kept for 3 years.
  • Oysters, clams, mussels and scallops: only from a harvest area open at the time (Fisheries and Oceans Canada closes areas for biotoxins and pollution), and they normally reach the public through a federally licensed shellfish plant that tags them — ask the Ministry before selling bivalves off the boat.

• To customers outside BC

  Shipping or selling across a provincial border

  Yes, if

  Only through federally licensed businesses. Your fisher vendor licence doesn’t cover shipping to customers, but you may sell whole or dressed fish to a business holding a federal fish licence; fish processed, or packed in consumer packages, for another province must be handled by a Safe Food for Canadians licence holder. Ask CFIA which applies to you.

  • Sold to a CFIA-licensed fish business, or processed, packed and labelled by a Safe Food for Canadians licence holder.
  • Bivalves only from an open harvest area, or relayed or depurated under licence.

Processed and packed by a licensed seafood processor

• At a farmers’ market

  A market with a market manager — farmers’ markets, Christmas markets, craft fairs

  Yes, if

  Yes — frozen and pre-packed, once Island Health has reviewed it. Raw fish and seafood are higher-risk foods, so the market guideline accepts them only when a licensed or permitted facility processed and packed them, they stay frozen, and you hold a Letter of Confirmation. Live or fresh (unfrozen) seafood, such as live oysters, needs a stall that meets the full Food Premises Regulation — ask Island Health first.

  • Sold frozen and kept frozen from packing to sale (−18°C or colder in the 2026 draft); thawed product can’t be refrozen and sold at a later market.
  • Cut, processed and packed at an Island Health–approved premises; no cutting or repacking at the market.
  • Each package labelled with the processing plant, your contact details, the product name, the packing date and safe-handling and cooking instructions (the 2020 guideline also asks for “Keep frozen”).
  • A Letter of Confirmation from Island Health — apply at least 30 days before the market, with your licence and food safety plan; keep all three at your stall.
  • Oysters, clams, mussels and scallops: take them in only from a federal licence holder, in containers tagged under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program, and pass the tag information on with them.

• At a festival or event

  Fairs, festivals, sports events, fundraisers — anything that is not a market

  Ask first

  Maybe — Island Health decides booth by booth. At fairs and festivals, food that needs refrigeration must come from an approved premises and be kept at 4°C or colder; a booth that only hands it over sealed, as packed, is a “product booth”, while cutting, cooking or offering samples needs a Temporary Food Service Permit. Ask Island Health before you book (event applications are due 14 days ahead) — or sell at a farmers’ market, where the rules are written down.

• From your door, shop or farm gate

  Customers buy where you make, grow or sell it

  Yes, if

  Yes, from your own approved premises. Once a licensed seafood processor has processed and packed it, fish can be sold like other approved food — but storing and selling it still needs Island Health’s approval for the place, or a seafood processor licence that covers your cold storage. A freezer in your home doesn’t qualify.

  • A food premises permit, or a seafood processor licence that covers your cold storage.
  • Frozen at −18°C or colder; fresh at 0–4°C.
  • Oysters, clams, mussels and scallops: take them in only from a federal licence holder, in containers tagged under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program, and pass the tag information on with them.

• Online, with pickup or delivery

  Orders taken online, by message or by phone

  Yes, if

  Yes, with pickup or delivery anywhere in BC. The rules cover how the fish is processed, stored and kept cold on the way, not how the order arrives. It can’t go to customers in other provinces without a federal licence.

  • A food premises permit, or a seafood processor licence that covers your cold storage.
  • Your food safety plan covers keeping it frozen, or at 4°C or colder, all the way to the customer.
  • Packages labelled with what it is, the net weight and your name and physical address, in English and French unless it qualifies as “local food”, with a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less. Raw single-ingredient meat, poultry and fish need no Nutrition Facts table — ground meat and ground poultry do.
  • Oysters, clams, mussels and scallops: take them in only from a federal licence holder, in containers tagged under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program, and pass the tag information on with them.

• To shops, cafés & restaurants

  Wholesale, or on consignment in someone else’s store

  Yes, if

  Yes. Shops and restaurants must buy from approved sources, and a provincially licensed seafood processor is one. Shellfish must travel with their harvest-tag information.

  • A seafood processor licence (or your shop’s food premises permit).
  • Packages labelled with what it is, the net weight and your name and physical address, in English and French unless it qualifies as “local food”, with a best-before date if it keeps 90 days or less. Raw single-ingredient meat, poultry and fish need no Nutrition Facts table — ground meat and ground poultry do.
  • Oysters, clams, mussels and scallops: take them in only from a federal licence holder, in containers tagged under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program, and pass the tag information on with them.

• To customers outside BC

  Shipping or selling across a provincial border

  Yes, if

  Yes, with a federal licence. A BC seafood processor licence covers sales inside BC; processing or packing fish for customers in another province needs a Safe Food for Canadians licence from CFIA. Bivalves must also come from a harvest area that was open, or be relayed or depurated under licence.

  • A Safe Food for Canadians licence.
  • The full label in English and French.
  • Bivalves only from an open harvest area, or relayed or depurated under licence.

How it’s classified

More in fish & seafood, or every food, A to Z.

Businesses that sell it