Private land is governed by private property and trespass laws. As with any activity, you require the landowners permission. Crown land is public land, unless otherwise stated, or restricted. Along the coast line, Crown land is designated as being within fifty feet of the high tide mark. That means that fifty feet inshore from the high tide mark on a beach.
Provincial parks require special permits for the collecting of rocks and minerals.
The Palaeontological Protected sites, do not permit any collecting at all. By the term collecting I mean, picking up a fossil, that is lying loose on the ground. To do so you require a Heritage Research Permit. More detailed information, permit applications, and brochures concerning these laws may be obtained from the museums. Another museum publication, the Geological Highway Map of Nova Scotia provides details of sites and the regulations governing them.