Transcript No Slide Title

Sustainable Aquaculture in a
changing world
Observations for consideration
Scotian Pride, January 30, 2008
Trevor Swerdfager, DFO, AMD
Canada: A Leader in Sustainable Seafood Production
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THANK YOU for inviting me:
I would like to offer you my take on …
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The evolving market
context for aquaculture
Successful company
behaviours
What DFO is doing to help
And, anything else you
would like to talk about …
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Seafood markets are truly global in nature
We never were an island: we are becoming
more integrated with global markets every day
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Overall demand for seafood is growing and diversifying
globally
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Consumers are open to a wider range of value added
products
Market trends and policies in other countries have huge
impact on Canada
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FAO projects continued rise in demand for seafood;
EU is a major policy driver
USA emphasis on food safety will escalate hugely
Developments in Chile, Norway have major impact on
Canadian salmon industry
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Wild capture fisheries are the historic base for
global markets…
But are under increasing pressure
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Many global stocks either fully or
overexploited
Canada working to bring global attention to
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU)
activity on the high seas
Bottom line is that major production increases
from wild fisheries are unlikely and
aquaculture will assist in meeting the global
demand for seafood products
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Globally, aquaculture has grown steadily – it is the only
way to address the gap between seafood production and
demand
The Canadian aquaculture sector has grown steadily from its
origin in early seventies
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Value of production in 2006 was over
$912Million – up from $35M in 1986.
Aquaculture occurs in all provinces
Accounts for 14% of total Canadian
fisheries production and 33% of its value
Over 16,000 Canadians are employed in
the industry, 2/3 of all workers are under
the age of 35
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Canada and world aquaculture
• Aquaculture provides nearly 50% of the world’s
seafood
Canadian seafood value, 2005
Farmed
26%
• In Canada, value of aquaculture products
accounted for 33% of the total value of seafood
in 2006
• Canada ranked
(in terms of value)
16th
Wild
74%
Canadian seafood value, 2006
in world aquaculture in 2006
• Canada is the 4th largest farmed salmon
producers (8%) after Norway (43%), Chile
(35%), and UK (9%)
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Farmed
33%
Wild
67%
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Structural changes affected production in 2007
1,200
• However, compared to 2000:
– production in 2007 increased by
33%
– value in 2007 increased by 39%
170
1,000
800
Millions $
• Consolidations and closures were
responsible for the decline
Million $
Thousand t
• Production declined 1.3% from the
previous year to 170 thousand tonnes
worth $846 m
Tonnes
130
600
90
400
50
200
2000
'01
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'04
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'06
'07
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BC produce and east coast production ~ equal
• Benefiting from species diversity, BC
produced 80,430 t
• On the East Coast, NB held the highest
share (26%), followed by PEI (12%), NS
(6%), and NL (5%)
• Ontario, Quebec production fairly flat
Regional distribution of production, ‘07
Prairies
0.8%
East Coast
48.5%
Central
Canada
3.1%
British
Columbia
47.5%
• The share of the Prairies is small but its
production in 2007 increased somewhat
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Salmon accounted for 69% of total production
• Of the total 117,306 t of farmed salmon,
BC produced 71, 370 t, NB 39,000 t,
and NS 6,936 t
• Mussels—second important species—
contributed 13%
• Trout and oyster production has been
somewhat stagnant for the last 4 years
• Clams, scallops and a few other minor
finfish and shellfish contributed a
sizable portion (7.2%)
Tonnes
Salmon
Million $
117,306
692
4,899
23.5
Mussels
23,692
33.0
Oysters
13,711
19.6
Trout
Mussels
13.9%
Other finfish
5.1%
Trout
2.9%
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Oysters
8.1%
Other
shellfish
1.2%
Salmon
68.9%
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A variety of external factors are shaping markets for
farmed salmon
Few of them are within our control or influence including:
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Production problems in Chile
Growing EU attention to Ilegal,
Unregulated and Unreported fishing – IUU
regulations
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World wide economic downturn
Increasing competition for labour
Canadian dollar
Etc…
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But most importantly, a “New Environmentalism” is
shaping the context for seafood production
“The environment” has become a mainstream issue;
it is a tide that will not reverse
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Effects of environmental change are more
obvious – eg. weather
Information age is resulting in more aware and
engaged public
Strong expectation for government and industry
to act, but…
Personal concern/guilt about the environment is
growing
Corporate social responsibility “movement”
continues to expand with growing sustainability
focus
And individual consumers are translating the
new environmentalism into market decisions
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The ENGO “community” is undergoing significant
change as well
ENGOs are accelerating the new environmentalism
and capitalizing on its rise
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Scope of ENGO activity broadening to include human health, animal
welfare, social justice
Shift in focus from government policy to market-based measures
Strategic, sophisticated and well-resourced global campaigns
targeting major retailers
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Focussed and well-marketed science papers
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Forging new strategic alliances amongst themselves and with business
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ENGO focus on sustainable seafood is growing
ENGOs typically have three main messages:
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World fish stocks being unsustainably harvested through destructive
fishing practices that impact stocks and wider ocean ecosystems
Aquaculture further depletes wild stocks for feed, destroys habitat,
spreads disease, pollutes the marine environment, threatens genetic
diversity of wild fish
Retailers and consumers have a responsibility to take action
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The media is clearly interested and continues to
develop the “sustainable seafood story”
Occasional headline news, plenty of trade journal coverage, food
media, blogs…
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Giant’s Seafood Makeover – WashingtonPost.com, July 24
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Fishing for Sustainability – BostonGlobe (boston.com), July 2
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Grocers' Rules Follow Wave Of Sustainably Farmed Fish WashingtonPost.com, July 16
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Greenpeace gives grocery chains failing grade on seafood buying
practices – Seattle Times, B1-Front, June 19
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Supermarkets asked to take seafood off shelves – CTV News, June 17
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Finding seafood that is harvested in a sustainable way won't make
you crabby – Vancouver Sun, B1-Front, June 21
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Love seafood? You'll need the FishPhone, wallet cards, and DNA
testing before dining – Maclean’s.ca, June 18
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US Supermarkets not doing enough to protect fish – Greenpeace Report
– BostonGlobe (boston.com), June 17
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Retailers/distributors are the connector point
between producers and consumers
The ENGO focus is switching from government policy
to retailer behaviour
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Retailer procurement policies and product lines
decisions are the main focus
A variety of sustainability profiles and lists used to
define “acceptable” purchasing behaviour
High quality communications materials and
spokespeople
Collaborative approach underlain with threats
of market action etc
Bottom line goal is to change retailer behaviour
in a manner that drives change in the seafood
production industry
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Retailers/distributors are caught between producer
views, ENGO “facts” and consumer demands
They are not seafood experts; they seek clarity,
certainty and positive market image
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Retailers frequently express desire for a “single
standard” for sustainability
Many trust yet fear ENGOs; often they look to
government for impartial view
They are adopting sustainability policies of their
own – M&S, Walmart…
And they are conducting their own
assessments – Connors, Walgreens
Bottom line, they are not going backwards on
sustainability, their demands will grow
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But really, in this market context, Canadian
aquaculture companies have choices to make
Companies will likely fail if they choose to:
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Debate the definition of “sustainablity” endlessly and hide behind the
uncertainty the term gives rise to
View “the environment” as a fad and ENGO’S as enemies that can be
vanquished
Meet environmental standards to the letter and nothing more
Cut marketing and communications budgets
Remain a “closed shop” sharing little information or data beyond annual
reporting requirements
Underestimate Chile
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But companies will obviously want to opt for
success not failure
Companies will likely succeed if they choose to:
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Substantially surpass environment standards and regulations
Demonstrate and document superior environmental performance
Secure third party certification for 100% of their operations and products
Become highly transparent to the public, to regulators and to markets
Communicate effectively with their neighbours, with markets and with
governments
Work together collegially as and strengthen their industry associations
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DFO’s Sustainable Aquaculture Program is designed to create
the conditions for industry success
Our goal is to foster a stronger, larger more sustainable
aquaculture industry across Canada by:
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Improving the governance and regulatory
regime for the industry
Substantially improving the science base for
environmental regulation of the industry
Catalysing and supporting industry
innovation
Supporting the development of certification
systems and expanded market access
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Regulatory reform is critical to industry efficiency
and expansion
In 3 years time, Canada will be viewed as a world leader in the
environmental management of the aquaculture industry
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Immediate priorities are to:
Develop and environmental management
framework for ministerial signature in fall,
2009
Modernize the Introductions and Transfers
regime
Integrate with Health of Animals Act regs
Address aquaculture issues under the NWPA
Complete CSAS process re: Pathways of
Effects for common risk assessment
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Regulatory science will like at the core of our
program
In three years time, research results will directly support
aquaculture decision making
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Lead and coordinate the CSAS Aquaculture POE review workshop
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Focused development of PARR priorities, objectives and governance
to address key issues such as sea lice
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Ecosystem carrying capacity and ecosystem and far-field indicators of
aquaculture effects on fish habitat
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Core funding for Centre for Integrated Aquaculture Science
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Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) research and support for
the development of an NSERC Canadian IMTA research network
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Ongoing delivery and alignment of ACRDP with other programs
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Innovation, technology development, product
diversification are essential to a dynamic industry:
AIMAP provides catalytic support for innnovation
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26 projects were approved for 2008-09
Total of $4.7M in federal funds levered $29M in
total project activity
Call for proposals for 2009-10 is on our website
now
– Priorities, applications guidelines etc
are all there
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Bottom line goal is to support industry
innovation not conduct “new research”
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We need clear national strategies for the major
aquaculture sectors
“Sector strategies” are in development to:
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Chart a strategic direction for finfish, shellfish,
freshwater
Guide government management action and priorities
Set out progress measures and means for reporting
Drive the establishment of provincial strategies for each
sector as well
Communicate to the world re: where aquaculture is
going in Canada
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And we must be able to report on our progress
In 3 years time we will have “sustainability reports” in place
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Established performance indicators to be reported
against
Reports will likely be by sector
They will chart progress toward sustainability; they
are not judgements or “report cards”
Strong reporting will promote transparency, enhance
our positioning re: certification
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Certification is the wave of the future
We need systems that work for Canada and for markets
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Detailed analysis of various standard systems is
under way in DFO
DFO has provided $105k to CAIA to form an
“Aquaculture Standards Forum” to bring the industry
together around certification
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Will improve collective understanding of certification
Working groups will focus on sectors
Intent is to better position CAIA members to respond
to and LEAD re: certification
FAO process is continuing and will result in global
guidelines for aquaculture certification; DFO is very
active there
Work is under way to develop an organic standard
for aquaculture, target completion date is spring, 09
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We collectively need to communicate more
proactively with the public and with markets
DFO and industry are launching a major Sustainability Outreach Strategy
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Initial training session for US based Canadian
Trade Commissioners December 10th
Outreach sessions will be organized by all 15
Consulates in the US to convey information to
market leaders and learn from them
Expanded presence at Boston, Brussels and San
Diego trade shows
Training sessions and outreach with EU based
DFAIT staff, possible sessions with Euro-markets
We can’t afford to remain passive; we need to push
information to markets, not just individual
customers or organizations
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The federal government strongly supports aquaculture
and is putting its money where its mouth is
The challenges before the industry are great but:
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The industry is Canada is strong and is
built on a very solid foundation
It has tremendous market opportunities
as a sector
The sector can and will compete well
with the rest of the world
And we are Canadian!
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Questions / Comments?