Best practices for the establishment of a seafood marketing council and the planning and implementation of successful fish auctions were the main topics under consideration as the Honourable Tom Rideout, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, met Monday with various seafood industry and government representatives in Tromsoe, Norway.

"While in Norway for Aqua Nor 2007 I felt it was important to take the opportunity to explore how the Norwegian seafood industry approaches fish auctions and seafood marketing. Norway has had extensive experience in the area of seafood marketing, given that its seafood export council has been in existence for over 15 years," said Minister Rideout. "Furthermore, that country is well known for the selling of fish through auctions operated by various fish sales organizations. Therefore, it was very important and beneficial to meet with the Norwegian seafood executives regarding these concepts, particularly as the Provincial Government moves forward with both of these initiatives as identified in our Fishing Industry Renewal (FIR) Strategy."

The minister met with various representatives of the Norwegian Seafood Export Council (NSEC). The council was formed in 1991 and is the world's largest generic marketer of seafood.

"It is clear that the NSEC has worked quite well in Norway and I was very impressed with the level of services provided by the council," said the minister. "While I recognize that Norway is a country whereas we are a province, I am confident based on our meetings that we can still mirror a lot of Norway's successes in our own council, particularly as it relates to such characteristics as structure and mandate. We have already completed some preliminary work on our own seafood marketing council and I look forward to promptly moving forward with industry in the coming weeks to make further progress."

While in Tromsoe, Minister Rideout also met with representatives of Norges Rafisklag, a sales organization that handles the first-hand sale of fish. It offers numerous services, including the administration of a variety of fish auctions.

"The Norwegian seafood industry has, through Norges Rafisklag, developed an auction system that appears to be working very efficiently," said the minister. "Our consultations on fisheries renewal indicated that an auction system should be reintroduced in our province and the characteristics of the Norway auction were noted and will be considered whenever possible during the development of our own fish auction."

The minister also met with Svein Ludvigsen, the County Governor of Tromsoe and former Minister of Fisheries, to discuss various fisheries issues of common interest.

As part of the FIR strategy, government has allocated $3 million over three-years for the establishment of a Newfoundland and Labrador Seafood Marketing Council, and $1.5 million over three-years for implementation of fish auctions.

Today, Minister Rideout is in Trondheim, where he will participate in Aqua Nor 2007. Aqua Nor is the world's largest aquaculture trade show.

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Media contact:
Lori Lee Oates
Director of Communications
Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture
709-729-3733, 690-8403
oatesll@gov.nl.ca

2007 08 14                                             9:50 a.m.