The RCMP have charged a high-ranking New Brunswick government official with obstruction of justice.

Police began investigating in the spring after receiving information that someone within the government may have interfered with an investigation being conducted under the Provincial Aquaculture Act.

Peter Andrews, the executive director of corporate services with the New Brunswick Department of Aquaculture, Agriculture and Fisheries, has been charged in the case.

The 56-year-old Nasonworth man is due to appear in court in Fredericton on March 1.