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 Speaking Notes for Honourable Tom Rideout
Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Deputy Premier

Address to the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association (NAIA)
Annual General Meeting, Conference and Trade Show
The Delta St. John�s Hotel


  • Good evening members of NAIA, officials representing the Government of Canada, mayors of municipalities from around the globe, ladies and gentlemen, invited guests from around the globe.
     
  • I would like to begin by extending my sincere appreciation to NAIA�s Executive Director, Miranda Pryor, for your kind invitation to attend this very important banquet and speak to you on behalf of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
     
  • I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the outgoing President, Cyr Cotourier, and welcome the incoming President, [to be announced on Thursday]. Congratulations are also extended to all the other members of the outgoing and incoming Board of Directors.
     
  • It�s an honor to be back here again this year. When I spoke at the NAIA annual general meeting in 2006 it was one of my first events after returning to the Fisheries and Aquaculture portfolio. And what a difference a year makes.
     
  • When I spoke at this event last year, the major focus of my remarks was the incredible investment government was making in aquaculture in Budget 2006. Since that time we have reaped the rewards of that investment in a big way.
     
  • During the last year, we have seen the aquaculture industry in this province finally come of age. It has done so because of the commitment of people like yourselves who have waited patiently while working hard to grow and nurture an industry that we all knew had such potential.
     
  • It is a pleasure to be here with the members of NAIA again this year. Your organization has played a critical role in fostering the development of the province�s aquaculture industry. Your board and members should be proud of the role that you have played in reaching the level the aquaculture industry has achieved in this province today.
     
  • I have said many times during the last year that aquaculture is an industry whose time has finally come.
     
  • During 2006 there was a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The report indicated that aquaculture production, as a percentage of all fish and seafood destined for human consumption has increased from 8% to 43% over the previous 25 years. In fact, it is believed that aquaculture will soon overtake the commercial fishing industry in this regard.
     
  • While the world demand for seafood continues to rise, limits to the sustainable exploration of wild stocks have been reached and exceeded.
     
  • In some cases, we have reached a point where once immense fish stocks have been brought to the brink of extinction. In this province, we have been dealing with the impacts of a cod moratorium since 1992 and we all know that this has been simply devastating for our rural communities.
     
  • In addition to the pressure on wild stocks, we are facing overcapacity in the processing sector. In fact, overcapacity was one of the key issues identified by all industry stakeholders last May during the Premier�s meeting with fisheries stakeholders. Unfortunately however, it is not a problem that is unique to this province as across the globe seafood processing work is shifting to low-cost producing regions.
     
  • The additional seafood products needed to best utilize these processing facility can come from aquaculture development.
     
  • As the world continues to urbanize and employment opportunities move to cities, aquaculture stands as a shining star among the sectors that can create year-round employment in rural regions.
     
  • Attracting investment is critical to the development and expansion of our province�s aquaculture industry, and to the future of many of our province�s coastal communities.
     
  • In September of last year, I was pleased to have the opportunity to address the participants of the Aquavision Conference in Stavanger, Norway. I spoke at a session entitled Captial Nourishment � Financing the World�s Fastest Growing Food Sector.
     
  • At that time I told them that the world is a smaller place than ever before. The Internet provides unprecedented access to information and opportunities in the global business environment. Investors are more sophisticated and informed, and capital is more mobile. People have the ability to invest in countless companies across the globe at any time and in any industry.
     
  • These modern global realities make it all the more important to address the challenges of investment attraction, if aquaculture is going to be the industry of choice for investors.
     
  • As an industry, we must also ensure that investors are achieving attractive returns so that aquaculture will be the sector of choice for future investment decisions.
     
  • Certainly everyone in this room has been an ambassador for the aquaculture industry at one time or another. Let�s remember that one of the best ways to be an ambassador for the industry is to attract and retain the investment that is necessary for this all important industry to grow and achieve further recognition.
     
  • In our Blueprint, our government said that this province had the site capacity to become the largest producer of aquaculture products in Canada and that this would bring related economic activity and thousands of jobs to dozens of communities along our coasts.
     
  • We said that our government would facilitate the expansion of profitable and sustainable aquaculture enterprises in the province through incentives to promote long-term venture capital investments in aquaculture enterprises.
     
  • When we came into office, we went to industry and asked for their views on how to best grow the industry. You told us that you needed capital and we delivered on that.
     
  • We delivered it in Budget 2005 with the Aquaculture Loan Guarantee Program to provide operational funding for aquaculture ventures. We delivered even more in Budget 2006 when we more than doubled provincial expenditures for aquaculture and introduced the Aquaculture Capital Investment Program, which spurred the investment in Cooke Aquaculture.
     
  • In Budget 2006 our government said that we anticipated the creation of 150 full time equivalent jobs for the aquaculture industry in the next two years. With the arrival of Cooke, less than one year later we are witnessed the creation of 200 direct full time equivalent jobs in this province and an anticipated100 indirect jobs.
     
  • Furthermore, as the aquaculture industry continues to develop in the province, this project could create up to 800 jobs over the long term.
     
  • Our government is committed to rural Newfoundland and Labrador. These will not be jobs on Water Street. For the most part, these will be jobs in coastal communities.
     
  • Last October, at the announcement of the arrival of Cooke I said that the point could not be overstated that what we were witnessing was nothing less than the province of Newfoundland and Labrador becoming a competitive player in the global aquaculture industry.
     
  • I told the students in the audience at the Marine Institute that day that they were being given job security. For years our province has watched as many of the very well qualified aquaculture graduates of the Marine Institute have left our province to work in places like New Brunswick and British Columbia. With the arrival of Cooke they now have more options than ever before for staying in Newfoundland and Labrador.
     
  • Our government was pleased to invest $10 million in this venture through the Aquaculture Capital Investment Program which we introduced in Budget 2006. This was made possible through our partners at Cooke Aquaculture and the federal government.
     
  • It is a great thing when the two levels of government can come together with the private sector and create such opportunities for the future.
     
  • That ladies and gentlemen is how opportunities for the future are created � with a group of people with commons goals working together to find solutions.
     
  • That is what the aquaculture industry needs to thrive, it is what rural Newfoundland and Labrador needs to survive and it is what we as a people need to address the challenges we face in the fishery today.
     
  • The world is becoming an increasingly urbanized place and there are precious few development opportunities left for rural areas. However, aquaculture in particular is a shining star in the prospects for rural development.
     
  • In fact, it has been determined that each job on a fish farm provides an additional 4 to 5 jobs in aquaculture processing and the supply and service sectors.
     
  • While I was in Norway last September, I had the opportunity to visit some of their aquaculture facilities.
     
  • I am here to tell you tonight that this province has the opportunity to compete with the likes of Chile and Norway in the global marketplace, with products that are second to none.
     
  • Newfoundland and Labrador is at the doorstep of two of the largest seafood markets in the world � those being the United States and Europe.
     
  • Much of the aquaculture product grown in Newfoundland and Labrador is already being exported into the United States. We already send the majority of mussels and salmon into the Northeastern United States. These are important international trading relationships that have already been established.
     
  • As well, Newfoundland and Labrador is the gateway to Europe for the rest of North America and indeed we are already exporting some aquaculture products to Europe.
     
  • However, in order to reach our full potential it is necessary for Atlantic Canada to work together as a region. I delivered this same message last June at the Canadian Farmed Seafood Summit in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. I told them that our government is willing to work with the other Atlantic provinces in moving the aquaculture sector forward.
     
  • Our province is already working with New Brunswick on a Cod Genomics Program. Half of the work is being completed at Memorial University of Newfoundland while the remainder is being performed in St. Andrews at the Huntsman Marine Laboratory.
     
  • This is a very important program that will establish Atlantic Canada as a world leader in cod genomics and also in the application of genomics technologies to aquaculture. It has the potential to bring about very significant economic benefits for the region, as cultured cod will become the next great aquaculture export for our region.
     
  • Cooperation between the Atlantic provinces provides great potential for the future of aquaculture development in Newfoundland and Labrador. And make no mistake, development is happening. When I say that I�m not just referring to the massive investment by Cooke Aquaculture. There are other small scale investments taking place that are consistently contributing to the development of the industry.
     
  • As well, traditional seafood processors have begun to view the aquaculture sector as a great way to expand their existing interests. This is true of the Barry Group, one of Canada�s most prominent seafood processing companies.
     
  • Similarly, Allen�s Fisheries of the province�s west coast, has expanded its operations to include the processing of mussels. Traditionally, this company was only engaged in the processing of wild fish.
     
  • These companies have made tremendous contributions to the aquaculture sector.
     
  • I�ve said many times since returning to the fisheries portfolio that less than 10% of our province�s potential aquaculture space is currently being utilized. Right now, this province has some of the last remaining site available for aquaculture development in Eastern Canada.
     
  • So to any aquaculture developers in the audience tonight, Newfoundland and Labrador welcomes you to our province. We want you to know that we are willing to working with any company that wishes to discuss potential aquaculture operations in this province.
     
  • In Budget 2006, our government allocated $5.94 million for aquaculture. This represented an increase of approximately 230% over our budget for aquaculture in the previous year. We are serious about aquaculture development in Newfoundland and Labrador.
     
  • Our province has also proven itself as a leader in aquaculture science. We have already completed a review of the commercialization of cod aquaculture and have made a request for proposals for a commercial-scale cod aquaculture demonstration farm.
     
  • Our government has invested $500,000 to help further the progress of this initiative. We will match this investment over the next three years for a total of $2 million.
     
  • I wish as well to signal strongly our desire to work with our federal counterparts to move the industry further. At the meeting of the Canadian Council of Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministers last October, all ministers committed that governments must harmonize our regulatory process and provide programming to enable the Canadian Aquaculture Industry to flourish.
     
  • We agreed that this is best accomplished through an Aquaculture Framework Agreement (AFA). To date, all major aquaculture producing provinces have identified a willingness and mandate to recognize such an agreement.
     
  • I know that NAIA, the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance and producers here and across the country, have been working writing their MPs, Ministers and the Prime Minister in support of this concept. I assure you that we have been active at all levels to encourage the federal government to begin negotiation on the AFA.
     
  • It is critical that both levels of government act immediately to ensure the industry expands for the benefit of all Canadians, but in particular those in rural and coastal communities, where aquaculture can be a major economic driver.
     
  • Finally, before closing I would like to make what I think will be an important point as the industry continues to develop in this province.
     
  • Aquaculture has faced its share of criticisms, both fair and false. As a sector, we have made exceptional strides in addressing some of what have been issues in the past. However, we have not been very good at getting this message out.
     
  • On too many occasions, we hear decade old arguments against aquaculture but we do not hear about the solutions which have been implemented to address these old problems.
     
  • Working to inspire confidence in our industry demands that we let the public know, in a proactive manner, that solutions have been found. Together we need to make investors aware that our industry and regulatory frameworks are effective, efficient, stable and responsible.
     
  • In truth, the world is changing in terms of how people purchase and consume food. The global demand for healthy, year round sources of protein is growing as the world becomes more aware of the need for good nutrition.
     
  • The demand for seafood outstrips the ocean�s ability to meet this demand. We need both a sustainable wild harvest and sustainable aquaculture operations to meet this demand.
     
  • As human beings, we have mastered the ability to farm the earth. We farm beef, chicken, pork, vegetables and grains. We have been doing so for thousands of years. Today, farming the seas is an idea whose time has come.
     
  • We in the industry know this to be true. Now it is our task to communicate that message to the rest of the world.
     
  • There is a place for this province in that global industry. We have a lot to offer in addressing the growing global demand for seafood. We must also communicate that message to those who are seeking to invest in aquaculture and grow this tremendous industry.
     
  • In closing I would like to thank the members of NAIA again for the kind invitation to address your banquet again this year. Once again it has been a pleasure. Good luck with the rest of your annual general meeting and in the new year.
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