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Fish Harvester Benefit and Grant Program

Status: The Fish Harvester Benefit and Grant (FHBG) concluded operations on March 31, 2023. The Program is now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.

The program has completed all file processing, and the status of all files is final.

To help fish harvesters in Canada impacted by COVID-19, the Government of Canada created the Fish Harvester Benefit and Grant Program to provide financial support to self-employed harvesters and self-employed fishing crew.

For more information, consult the Program overview and eligibility page.

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Overpayment reminder outreach

In January and February 2023, the program reached out to remind individuals who had overpayment obligations about repayment. Individuals with amounts owing were encouraged to make their repayments at their earliest convenience, and no later than March 31, 2023 to avoid interest charges.

The program initially waived interest charges on overpayment amounts until January 1, 2023. That waiver period was extended to April 1, 2023, on which date the calculation of interest at the Bank of Canada commenced on unpaid overpayment amounts owing.

The extension of the interest waiver period was intended to provide further flexibility to individuals with repayment obligations who might have benefited from the additional time and opportunity to earn income without facing interest charges, and to provide interest relief to those individuals affected by Hurricane Fiona in September 2022.

The reminder outreach involved Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) sending reminder emails or letters and account statements to individuals, and Service Canada making reminder telephone calls.

The reminder emails, letters, and account statements were issued starting in January 2023. Service Canada’s reminder calls began shortly thereafter.

To pay by cheque or money order, please make funds payable to the “Receiver General for Canada” and send your repayment to:

Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Accounting Operations
301 Bishop Drive
Fredericton, NB  E3C 1B2

Payments can also be made by:

Should you wish to pay by credit card or obtain instructions on how to pay by wire transfer, you can contact us at (855) 859-6271 or email us at DFO.Collection.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

Overpayments

Some of the reasons individuals may have been in an overpayment situation included cases in which they:

If you were in an overpayment situation, you will have been:

If you did not agree with the overpayment finding, you were provided 30 days from the date of the overpayment letter to:

Key program deadlines

1. Phase-one appeals
The deadline for appeals of a phase-one overpayment finding was October 15, 2021.
2. Phase-two applications
The deadline for phase-two applications was October 31 2021.
3. Phase-two appeals
If you decided to appeal a phase-two overpayment decision, you were provided with the 30-day window, noted above, to notify Service Canada of your intention to appeal the decision and provide supplementary documentation in support of your appeal. Phase-two appeal processing is now complete.
4. Waiver period
The waiver period on interest payments ended on March 31, 2023.

Contact information

For information on making repayments, please contact DFO Collections at (855) 859-6271 or by email at DFO.Collection.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

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