How Canada is becoming a rising seafood exporting star

Canada is hitting its stride as a seafood exporter, according to a new report.

In its “Canadian Seafood Market Report,” Iceland bank Islandsbanki praised the growing volume and value of lobster exported by Canada to the United States, China and other countries. Its exports of snow crab and cold water shrimp are also growing, the reported noted, and while farmed salmon production in the country has declined in recent years, the report is optimistic about its future growth.

Timothy Spanos, executive director of international lending at Islandsbanki, said in an interview with SeafoodSource that Canadian seafood exports soared to CAD 6 billion (EUR 4.2 billion, USD 4.7 billion) in 2015. The U.S. accounts for approximately 65 percent of Canada’s total exports (by value) and the majority of Canadian lobster and snow crab exports are to the U.S.

At the same time, exports to China grew by 46 percent in the last two years to CAD 646 million (EUR 451 million, USD 511 million),

“Many of Canada’s fisheries are MSC-certified. As global demand for sustainable seafood continues to grow, the value of Canada’s seafood industry should increase,” Spanos said.

Lobster is Canada’s most valuable seafood export and landings increased by 24 percent to 92,779 metric tons in 2014, the highest since 1990.

“The increase in the value of the lobster fishery was due to higher landings and prices (aided by a weaker CAD relative to the USD),” Spanos said.

While lobster accounted for about half of the increase in total commercial seafood value from 2010 to 2014, snow crab accounted for approximately 35 percent of the increase in total value during this period.

“The increase in the value of the crab harvest was primarily due to higher prices,” Spanos said.

Canada exports more cold water shrimp than any other country in the world. However, shrimp landings have generally declined since their peak of 188,216 metric tons in 2007. In 2014, total landings were 131,801 MT, a 30 percent drop from 2007.
“Although stocks are down in the more southerly extent of the range, they remain in good condition,” the report ssaid.

Meanwhile, Islandsbanki is optimistic about farmed salmon production, which accounts for around 60 percent of total farmed species production by volume and is 75 percent of total value. While total production dipped to approximately 79,000 MT in 2014, Canada was the fifth-largest producer of Atlantic salmon globally that year.

“I would expect to see a rebound in the production of farmed salmon and continued growth in line with demand,” Spanos said.

Canada is also a major producer of farmed mussels and produces farmed oysters and trout. Although aquaculture will be a key growth area in the future, there are also opportunities on the wild side, according to Spanos.

“For example, Clearwater Seafoods launched a new vessel in 2015, which will enable it to harvest a species of clam that it hadn’t harvested before,” Spanos said.

The clams harvested by the vessel, the Belle Carnell, are automatically shucked and individually quick-frozen within an hour of catch, using the vessel's proprietary and advanced harvesting and processing technologies, according to Clearwater.

“Products will be sold almost exclusively into international, high-value sushi and sashimi markets, greatly expanding both Clearwater and Canada's seafood exports to the U.S., Asian and European markets,” the company said last July in a statement announcing the new vessel’s construction.

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