Part of The Future of Fisheries Series presented by

Spotlight on the Ocean Economy

Fisheries Policy

Published on March 25, 2019

Minister Jonathan Wilkinson / Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard - Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Ian Smith / CEO - Clearwater Seafoods

Beth Mason / CEO - Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and the Environment

Jim Hanlon / CEO - Centre for Ocean Ventures & Entrepreneurship (COVE)

Canada has the longest coastline in the world. Yet our ocean economy’s share of our national GDP is less than the OECD average. But there are very important and achievable avenues for the growth of Canada’s ocean economy. This Spotlight explores what those opportunities are and what our ocean economy stakeholders – governments, companies, academia, communities, and more – must do now to position Canada for success in the ocean economy of the future.

Key Takeaways & Calls to Action

Canada’s ocean economy is valued at about $35 billion in economic activity and it encompasses fishing and fishery management, tourism, recreation, renewable energy technologies, and others sectors.
Canada’s policymakers must recognize that our ocean economy needs to have a multi-stakeholder long-term plan, which will not necessarily change with successive governments.
Specific opportunities for Canada’s ocean economy include applying technology to improve our fisheries processes, value creation from fishing by-products, water purification technologies, and land-based aquaculture.
The imperative to provide protein for a growing global population of 7 billion makes the application of disruptive science and technology to Canada’s labour-intensive ocean food sector one of our biggest opportunities in the future ocean economy.