Newfoundland and Labrador has made a deal to allow one of its largest seafood companies to ship unprocessed yellowtail flounder offshore in return for a guarantee of jobs at a fish plant.
The province says in a news release that a quarter of yellowtail landings must be processed at the Ocean Choice processing plant in Fortune, N.L.
Under terms of the bargain, processing of the groundfish will commence within six months at the Fortune plant, creating 110 jobs.
The province says the remainder of the flounder and all of the company’s redfish catch can be sent for processing in out-of-province plants.
Earlier this year, the province had said it couldn’t permit the offshore exports because the company wasn’t guaranteeing enough benefits for the province’s processing plants.
However, Dalley said the agreement is a step forward from that impasse, and came after “months of intense negotiation.”
