Industry groups are pushing Canada’s government to engage diplomatically before tariffs decimate seafood companies
China recently announced 25 percent tariffs on Canadian seafood species – set to go into effect on 20 March – and leaders in the industry are anticipating a huge impact for multiple species.
China announced the tariffs on 8 March, and said they are in response to Canada’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products. When those tariffs start, the industry will struggle to cope, Fisheries Council of Canda Board Chair Alberto Wareham told SeafoodSource.
“For some fisheries devastation is the word,” Wareham said.
Certain fisheries in Canada are almost entirely dependent on the Chinese market, and can’t change over to a new one easily, he said. One example Wareham offered was geoduck, where 95 percent of the product coming out from the province of British Columbia goes to China.
“You can’t pivot away from 95 percent,” he said.
Other industries already pivoted toward China after other markets were blocked. Wareham said the Canadian coldwater shrimp fishery on the east coast of the country was once mainly shipping its product to Russia, but the industry lost that market as Canada banned Russian seafood and sanctioned Russian tycoons.
Wareham said the industry worked hard to pivot away from Russia, and spent millions on advertising campaigns to build up the market in China instead. Other companies began to reinvest in the fishery, and spent CAD 80 million to CAD 100 million (USD 55 million to USD 69 million; EUR 51 million to EUR 64 million) on vessels and improvements.
Today, Wareham estimates 90 percent of the product goes to China, and fishermen are going to have to make tough decisions about whether they head to sea.
“People have some fishing decisions to make, effective today,” he said. “These are expensive boats to maintain. You don’t just turn them on and off.”
Other species like sea cucumber and Greenland halibut will be similarly hit by tariffs, and Wareham said it’s likely customers won’t want to absorb a 25 percent tariff especially given most of the items being tariffed are already high-end, premium species.
“Our customers are not accepting 25 percent. If it’s five to 10 percent they may, but at 25 percent, it won’t happen,” he said.
The other big fear in the industry is that once the tariffs are implemented, they’ll be implemented for a long time.
“When China makes these decisions, it tends to take longer to get a solution,” Wareham said.
While the tariffs in the U.S. on Canadian seafood have gone back and forth, there may be hope that either the tariff is implemented at a lower level, or doesn’t touch the seafood industry. With China, there’s much less hope.
“The first thing we’re going to be asking for is to ramp up diplomatic conversations with China,” Wareham said. The industry will also need support packages once the tariffs hit to stay afloat, but it’s unlikely to keep things going for long.
“That’s not a long-term solution,” Wareham said. “The message we have to get out there to the Canadian government is that this is a critical situation, and we have to work something with China as soon as possible.”
If tariffs in China and the U.S. both go into full effect, 83 percent of Canada’s seafood exports will be hit, Wareham said.
“There’s no pivoting, and for some of these fisheries, devastation is the word,” he said.
