St. Alban’s, Newfoundland –The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, announced close to $380,000 in funding from the Government of Canada to support three innovative aquaculture projects in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“The Government of Canada is investing in rural communities through sustainable, economic development,” said Minister Ashfield. “Aquaculture continues to grow as a sector and this investment will help to ensure its competiveness and environmental performance.”
The projects are being funded through Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Aquaculture Innovation and Market Access Program (AIMAP). AIMAP funds innovative aquaculture and market access projects that contribute to the industry’s growth through sustainable production, increased diversification and/or green technology.
Through this latest round of funding, Allen’s Fisheries Ltd. is receiving $110,000 for their project to improve quality and productivity associated with live blue mussel inspection through the Installation of automated sorting equipment. Newfoundland Aqua Services Inc. received $200,000 for a project to improve innovation for net drying in aquaculture servicing. Sunrise Fish Farms received $69,175 for a project involving arctic ice boom innovation for mussel farm protection
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, through its Sustainable Aquaculture Program, is committed to supporting the sustainable development of the Canadian industry, based on the best science available and within one of the most rigorous regulatory systems in the world. As part of this program, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, in collaboration with provincial and territorial government departments and agencies, has created the Aquaculture Sustainability Reporting Initiative to provide a regular cycle of fact-based reporting on the sustainability of aquaculture in Canada. Under this initiative, Fisheries and Oceans Canada recently released Aquaculture in Canada 2012: A Report on Aquaculture Sustainability. This report documents current information related to the social, economic and environmental dimensions of aquaculture.
Aquaculture contributes nearly $1 billion to the Canadian economy, providing some 14,000 jobs to people – often young people and women, and often those living in remote and coastal communities. The majority of aquaculture production in Newfoundland and Labrador takes place in the Coast of Bays Region. Production in this region has more than tripled since 2003. It was estimated in a 2010 study that aquaculture in Newfoundland and Labrador made an overall contribution to regional GDP of $34.6 million, comprised of $20 million in direct, $8.4 million in indirect and $6.2 million in induced impact.
