Fisheries minister offers up $54M
Cash will be used to continue research and improve regulatory management in the industry
Nanaimo Daily News, February 16, 2014
With aquaculture projects supplying approximately 50 per cent of the seafood consumed worldwide, and with the demand steadily increasing, Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced in Nanaimo on Friday a federal investment of $54 million to continue research and improve the regulatory management in the industry. Speaking at the Pacific Biological Station, Shea said that in 2012, aquaculture accounted for 16 per cent of Canada's seafood production and employed more than 14,000 jobs in rural communities.
Shea said that the Canadian aquaculture industry currently produces 174,000 tonnes of product, and $2 billion annually in total economic activity.
She said that federal funding, which will be spread over five years, that was included in this week's federal budget, will help further the research of aquaculture scientists across the country, including the PBS.
Don Tillapaugh, director of Vancouver Island University's Centre for Shellfish Research, said that with many federal projects and other initiatives seeing cuts, he's pleased that Ottawa understands and appreciates the growing importance of the aquaculture industry around the globe.
Shea said aquaculture is "here to stay" and supporting its expansion is a "step in the right direction."
"Researchers and scientists at the PBS have been conducting vital scientific research for more than 100 years to ensure that we have sustainable management of our ocean's resources," Shea said to a gathering of scientists at the PBS Friday morning.
"There is a growing demand for more seafood, which is the fastest growing food sector, around the world and we want to have an aquaculture industry in place to meet that demand. The government is proud to support to continue the research that is being conducted at the PBS and other institutions across the country."
Tillapaugh said the funding will assist researchers to advice government officials on all issues related to the aquaculture industry, including devising adequate regulatory rules to govern the industry and where the best places are to establish new aquaculture sites across the country. "This commitment to research and development in this sector is a recognition of the increasingly larger role the industry will play in helping to feed the world," he said.
"It's estimated that there will be an additional two billion people on the planet in the next 30 years and the (wild) fisheries are currently at their sustainable limits, so aquaculture is the only way to go to help fill that gap."
When Nanaimo's Centre for Shellfish Research opened its doors on the campus of Malaspina University-College in 2002, it was hoped that establishing a centre of research in the city would help significantly expand the industry along B.C.'s coasts.
While encountering some setbacks, there has been a significant increase in aquaculture projects, both for shell and finfish, across B.C. since then.
