CAIA Newsletter ~ Winter 2019

2018 State of Seafood Farming in Canada Report

Prospects for Growth Remain High

Canadian Aquaculture Industry Association (CAIA) has released the 2018 update to its State of Seafood Farming in Canada Report.

The report’s findings clearly show that aquaculture remains one of Canada’s most important food producing sectors. A global leader in environmental sustainability, the sector creates high-quality jobs that are essential to our nation’s future prosperity and growth.  The report’s key findings include:

Solid Production, Revenues, and Exports in 2017

• Total revenues increased to $1.392 billion in 2017.

• Farmed seafood production was 191,416 tonnes in 2017, down about 4.7% from 2016 levels.

• Exports of Canadian farmed seafood also fell by about 5% in 2017, to $897 million.

…with Significant Economic Benefits to Canadians

• Our farming and fish processing activities generated an estimated $5.4 billion in economic activity, $2.2 billion in GDP, and full-time jobs for more than 26,000 Canadians earning an estimated $1.2 billion in wages in 2017.

• When the full value-chain of economic activity is considered, Canadian farmed seafood generated a total of $7.7 billion in economic activity throughout the economy, $3.9 billion in GDP, and $2.29 billion dollars in wages for more than 56,500 Canadian workers in 2017.

With the right policies and assistance from government, the seafood farming sector could create more than 22,000 direct new jobs in the next decade based on approximate doubling of production – it will leverage the already considerable contribution that the Canadian aquaculture industry makes in meeting rapidly growing global demand for sustainable seafood.