I rise in the Honourable House today to inform my colleagues and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador of the results of a recent Chilean aquaculture mission that I participated in along with senior officials in my department.

The mission also included ministers and officials from the Governments of Canada, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

While in Chile, I had the opportunity to visit Aqua Sur, the largest aquaculture trade show in the southern hemisphere and to attend a roundtable with officials from the Government of Chile, where I was able to promote to the Chileans the tremendous growth of our industry as well as its future potential.

The visit also included a tour of a number of farming sites and processing facilities.

Chile is the second largest producer and exporter of aquaculture products in the world. At the present time, it is producing approximately 80,000 MT of mussels and well over 350,000 MT of salmon annually. The Chilean industry employs approximately 45,000 individuals.

Given the size of the Chilean aquaculture sector, this mission provided a tremendous opportunity to explore the challenges that are associated with the rapid development of a successful and sustainable aquaculture industry, as well as the solutions to such challenges.

This is very timely for Newfoundland and Labrador as we are currently experiencing a very rapid expansion of our own aquaculture sector. In five short years, the production and value of our industry has more than doubled.

A key objective during the visit was to explore best practices as it relates to fish health, an area where Chile has experienced some challenges. However, it became clear during the mission that the Chilean industry is certainly learning to overcome them.

Our deliberations in Chile confirmed that our own fish health initiatives, including a $4.3 million Aquatic Veterinary Diagnostic Facility, are very strategic at this point in our development and that, in terms of fish health and environmental sustainability, we are keeping pace with our own expansion.

The mission also highlighted a key advantage of our province in terms of market access. While Chile enjoys a very large scale production, its geographic location makes it very difficult for that country to export fresh product into key markets such as Europe and the Northeastern United States.

Given our proximity to both, it is increasingly clear that the export of fresh seafood into these markets provides Newfoundland and Labrador with a significant competitive edge.

The mission to Chile was a very successful effort. My department has approached the provincial industry representatives who travelled to Chile regarding a follow-up meeting to discuss how we can take the lessons of our visit and apply them directly to our continued strategic development in aquaculture.

2008 04 07                                                    1:45 p.m.