Minister issues licence for Newfoundland and Labrador�s first fish auction

Trevor Taylor, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, today announced that Borealis Trading Inc., a division of Tavel Limited, has been engaged to manage the province�s electronic shrimp auction system for 2004 and 2005.

"The principals of Borealis have extensive knowledge about the seafood industry and have the capability to develop prototype auction software," said Minister Taylor. "Borealis has been hired to design and manage a shrimp auction system. The auction house will post harvesting information, notify processors of landings, accept bids through an electronic computer system, and will generally connect participating buyers to participating sellers. System trials will begin later this week."

Shrimp harvesters participating in the system will be required to hail in and hail out to the auction house. Information on the harvester�s catch will be available to processors and buyers in real time. Based on the hail-out information, the auction house will maintain a real time list of boats at sea, days sailed, area fished, and anticipated landing return date. This information will be available to both harvesters and processors to provide them with an indication of potential landings, which will be critical to making good port departure and purchase decisions. The harvester will hail-in to the auction house to indicate details of the catch and preferred ports of landing. This information will be posted to the auction in real time on which processors may then bid.

Bill 26, An Act To Amend The Fishing Industry Collective Bargaining Act, was debated in the House of Assembly last week. The bill received royal assent on June 8, 2004 and provides for the establishment of an auction system for any species.

Media contact: Alex Marland, Communications, (709) 729-3733

2004 06 09                                        3:30 p.m.