Trudeau has 'significantly weakened' Canadian aquaculture

Analysis of 2023 aquaculture production and trade data confirms that actions taken by Justin Trudeau’s federal government have significantly weakened the sector and must be stopped in the face of tariff threats from the United States, the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) said today.

The loss in overall production – which deepened in 2024 – is the result of non-science based and unnecessary federal government actions to reduce salmon production in British Columbia, added the CAIA.

It said federal actions, which include the arbitrary closure of farms in the Discovery Islands, British Columbia, have weakened Canadian domestic food production and threaten workers at a time when the aquaculture industry, facing US tariff threats, needs to be strong and robust for coastal communities across Canada.

Figures from Statistics Canada show that:

• The country’s farmed seafood production was 145,985 tonnes in 2023, which was the lowest level in a decade and 27% less than peak production levels in 2016 (200,804 tonnes).
• The total value of farmed seafood produced in Canada in 2023 was CAD 1.26 billion and has fallen 25.3% in real terms since its peak value of CAD 1.69bn (constant 2023 dollars) in 2018.
• Export value of Canadian farmed seafood fell to $882.8 million in 2023, the lowest value in real terms since 2015, and has dropped 24.5% since the peak export value of $1.17bn in 2019.

“The global seafood sector is going through a historical change towards precision farming,” said CAIA president and chief executive Tim Kennedy.

With the world’s greatest capacity for cold water aquaculture, Canada can either be at the front of world with innovation and opportunity or be on the wrong side of history

CAIA president Tim Kennedy

“Aquaculture production is fast expanding and now accounts for over 50% of global seafood production. It is a critical path to feeding a growing global population with healthy ocean-based protein. With the world’s greatest capacity for cold water aquaculture, Canada can either be at the front of world with innovation and opportunity or be on the wrong side of history. 

Damaging actions

“In the last five years, the Trudeau government has listened to extreme activists and, against their own internal peer-reviewed science advice, undertaken damaging actions that have weakened a sector that has major opportunity for Canada. Especially in the face of US tariffs that would, if implemented, brutalise coastal communities, it is time to stop all damaging actions and policies that undermine the strength and vitality of our sector. “It is time to begin on a new and innovative pathway toward food security, job creation and new economic and community opportunity through seafood farming.”

The CAIA’s demand for a reversal of federal government policies follow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s January 6 announcement that he intended to resign as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and PM. He has since prorogued parliament to give time for a new Liberal leader to be chosen and delay a vote of no confidence by MPs that would spark a general election.

Trudeau’s 2019 manifesto commitment to transition salmon farming in British Columbia to closed containment by 2025, ostensibly to protect wild salmon, led to a series of federal government decisions that have harmed the BC sector, including farm closures and a ban on open net pen farming from mid-2029.

'Stop the damage'

The CAIA wants “all current Trudeau federal policies and regulations being imposed on the seafood sector which would kill jobs, increase industry financial burden and decrease domestic food security and seafood exports” to be stopped immediately. It says this includes, but is not limited to:

• BC Salmon Farming Transition and “Ban”, threatening the livelihoods of 4,500 people and many coastal and First Nations communities and now being used by activists to attempt to constrain development in Atlantic Canada; 
• Transport Canada “Safe Manning” proposal for ships that requires – without any industry consultation – 4 crew (instead of 2 or 3) that would significantly increase costs for operators at a time of skilled labour shortages;
• Proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCA) such as the one-million-hectare Newfoundland and Labrador south coast fjords NMCA, which will cut off significant areas for fish harvesters and negatively impact aquaculture producers;
• Proposed changes to licence conditions for BC shellfish farmers to remove production from certain areas, without scientific justification.