The introduction of 25% tariffs on Canadian products will hurt Canadian and American families, communities and businesses. Healthy, fresh protein is something all families need more of, and these actions threaten American access to the best and freshest seafood. This comes after years of significant food cost inflation which has already compromised the ability of many families to access healthy food and essential nutrition.
In the face of these tariffs, our opportunity in Canada is to first strengthen our production at home. We need the economy firing on all cylinders. We must first immediately address negative policy actions that federal and provincial governments that are unnecessarily suppressing Canadian seafood farming production, including, but not limited to:
BC Salmon Farming Transition and “Ban,” without scientific foundation, threatening the livelihoods of 4500 people and many coastal and First Nations communities and now being used by activists to attempt to harm farming 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, without improving safety;
Proposed Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCA) such as the one-million-hectare NL south coast fjords NMCA being stopped immediately given it will cut off significant areas for fish harvesters and fish farmers, impacting Canadian seafood production;
Proposed changes to Conditions of License for BC shellfish farmers to ban existing production from certain areas, without scientific justification.
We also appeal to the federal government to immediately support seafood producers with:
New Funding for Domestic Marketing and Flexibility for International Marketing: Provide funds to market any stranded product to Canada to support the sector’s fit-for-purpose “Choose Canadian Seafood” campaign and provide flexibility for international marketing funds (AgriMarketing) so that companies can market non-generic products for a period of time.
Finally, we ask the Government of Canada to carefully consider the impacts of counter-tariff, retaliatory measures.
Contact:
Sheri Beaulieu,
Marketing and Communications Manager