Executive Council
Fisheries and Land Resources
March 22, 2017
Premier Ball and Minister Crocker Attend Seafood Expo North America
The Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Honourable Steve Crocker, Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources, attended Seafood Expo North America 2017 from March 19 to 21 in Boston.
The expo provided a one-stop opportunity to meet with several major seafood industry players and to engage with fisheries and aquaculture counterparts from other provinces. While in Boston, the Premier and Minister Crocker also met with the Honourable Dominic Leblanc, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, to discuss important fisheries and aquaculture matters including the recently announced Atlantic Fisheries Fund.
This year Newfoundland and Labrador was a partner in the newly established Atlantic Canadian Pavilion. This collaborative approach among the Atlantic Provinces will lead to enhancement of the Atlantic Canada brand and create efficiencies to strategically position seafood producers to take advantage of new market opportunities.
For more information about Seafood Expo North America 2017, please see the backgrounder below.
Attending Seafood Expo North America complements commitments outlined in The Way Forward: A Vision for Sustainability and Growth in Newfoundland and Labrador, available online at gov.nl.ca/pdf/the_way_forward.pdf
. The vision guides Provincial Government actions to achieve greater efficiency, strengthen the province’s economic foundation, enhance services, and improve outcomes to promote a healthy and prosperous province.
Quotes
“Our participation at Seafood Expo North America provided a strategic opportunity to meet many influential seafood industry stakeholders to discuss new growth opportunities for locally produced seafood products. With a record production value of $1.4 billion in 2016 it is clear the investments we are making in the fishing sector are supporting our communities. This government’s ongoing investment in the fishing and aquaculture sectors is also consistent with our commitment to transition to a groundfishery and grow the aquaculture sector.”
Honourable Dwight Ball
Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
“Seafood Expo North America proved to be a positive experience for the Newfoundland and Labrador delegation attending this year as our province took this opportunity to promote growth opportunities for our fishery to international buyers. Record growth in our aquaculture sector and our commitment to grow the groundfish sector are expected to attract new interest in our fisheries. The recently announced Atlantic Fisheries Fund will provide the support required to ensure we can effectively grow our seafood industry and support our communities into the future.”
Honourable Steve Crocker
Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources
“Having had achieved a record-breaking year in terms of overall production and total market value of farmed seafood, Newfoundland and Labrador is now positioned as a significant player in the production of premium farmed seafood in Canada. Seafood Expo North America is one of the world’s premier tradeshows that enables our producers and processors to connect face-to-face with key buyers, brokers and distributors, ultimately increasing exports to the United States and other key target markets around the world.”
Derek Butler
Executive Director, Association of Seafood Producers
“The Seafood Expo North America seafood show in Boston is a key event for members of the Association of Seafood Producers to attend and meet customers for our quality seafood products. The Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture industry has been attending this event for many years and with the support of the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources we have been successful growing our salmonid and mussel sectors.”
Mark Lane
Executive Director, Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association
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Learn more
Seafood Expo North America - www.seafoodexpo.com/north-america/
2016 Seafood Industry Year in Review -
www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/publications/pdf/SYIR_2016.pdf
Follow us on Twitter:@GovNL
and @FLR_GovNL
Media contacts:
Michelle Cannizzaro
Office of the Premier
709-729-3960
michellecannizzaro@gov.nl.ca
Craig Renouf
Fisheries and Land Resources
709-637-2284
craigrenouf@gov.nl.ca
Derek Butler
Association of Seafood Producers
709-726-3730
dbutler@seafoodproducers.org
Mark Lane, C.D.
Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association
709-689-8536
mark@naia.ca
BACKGROUNDER
Seafood Expo North America (SENA) is the largest seafood expo in North America with representatives from more than 100 countries and over 21,000 seafood buyers and suppliers taking part in this year’s show.
For 2017, there was a new Atlantic Canadian Pavilion established in partnership with other Atlantic provinces.
The Newfoundland and Labrador section of the pavilion included a department information booth as well as exhibition space for the following Newfoundland and Labrador seafood companies and organizations who participated:
- Ocean Choice International
- Whitecap International Seafood Exporters
- Barry Group Inc.
- Northern Harvest Sea Farms
- Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association
- Badger Bay Mussel Farms Ltd.
2017 03 22 11:40 a.m.