Fisheries and the Canadian economy

1.1 Gross value

Total landings from marine commercial fishing have reached a value of $2.1bn (1.1 million tonnes) in 2005. This translates into a $164m (-7%) decrease compared to 2004, owing mainly to the snow crab price drop as well as lower prices for scallop, salmon, and Pacific Dungeness crab. As for the value of freshwater fisheries, it has increased slightly with a total value of $66m in 2005, 4% more than in 2004.

Overall, aquaculture production fared better than the commercial fisheries. In 2005, the value of aquaculture production increased by $190m to reach a total of $715m, which means 36% more than in 2004. This is mainly due to an increase in the price of farmed salmon, which rose in value by $1.52/kg (+38%) as opposed to a 2% increase in production volume.

The gross revenue of the fish and seafood processing industry reached $4.05bn in 2005, 7% less than 2004. The strong Canadian dollar in relation to the US dollar was one of the principal reasons that revenues fell, as nearly 53% ^{Footnote 1} of Canadian seafood production was exported to the U.S. in 2005.

¹Landed value. Source: DFO, Economic Analysis and Statistics.
²Production value. Source: Statistics Canada, 2006, Aquaculture Statistics 2005, Catalogue no. 23-222-XIE.
³Source: Statistics Canada, Annual Survey of Manufactures and Logging, Table 301-0006, "Seafood product preparation and packaging" category. Total revenues of this sector include costs of purchasing the raw material from fish harvesters, a total cost figure close to the landed value of marine fisheries. Note that the added value from the processing sector in 2005 was estimated at $1,049m by Statistics Canada.
⁴ To avoid double-counting, one should not add gross revenues of the four sectors shown in this table.

1.2 Employment and GDP by industry

In 2005, employment in the commercial fishing and aquaculture industries has declined slightly as compared to 2004. The harvesting sector of the commercial fishing industry employed 52,805 fish harvesters and crew members, 965 less than in 2004 (-2%). The aquaculture industry itself employed 3,920 people, approximately 2% less than in 2004.

In 2005, the fish processing industry employed 29,342 workers, 2,862 less than in 2004. This represents a decrease of 9%, which is greater than the decrease in the number of workers employed in the harvesting and aquaculture sectors between 2004 and 2005.

¹Number of fish harvesters and crew. Source: DFO, Regional Statistical Units.
²Source: Statistics Canada, Aquaculture Value Added Statistics.
³Source: Statistics Canada, Annual Survey of Manufactures and Logging, Table 301-0006, "Seafood product preparation and packaging" category, Total number of employees, direct and indirect labour (persons).

By way of comparison, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the agriculture industry has increased by 2.7% in 2005 with a performance similar to that of the Canadian economy as a whole. However, the harvesting and processing sectors have shown a reverse trend with negative growth rates of the fishing industry of -10.5% and -3.1% respectively.