Provincial

Seafood processor licence

Needed to process fish — fillet, smoke, can, freeze or pack it — for sale, unless the processing is part of a restaurant or shop with a food premises permit. Also exempt: a commercial fisher who only bleeds, heads, guts, ices, freezes or packs their own catch at sea; a business with a federal processing licence; a freshwater fish farm; and processing a sport fisher’s catch that goes back only to them.

Who issues it
BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food

Who needs it

The rules behind this page

Last checked 26 September 2026. We check this guide regularly against Island Health, provincial and municipal sources, but regulations and laws change often and we can’t guarantee it is complete or current. Confirm with Island Health and your municipality before you apply, build or sell.

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