Fisheries and the Canadian economy

1.1 Gross value

Total landings from marine commercial fishing in Canada have reached a value of $1.9 billion (1.1 million tonnes) in 2006. This translates into a $197 million (-9%) decrease compared to 2005, owing mainly to the snow crab price drop as well as lower prices for herring, clams, Pacific geoduck and Pacific Dungeness crab. As for the value of freshwater fisheries, it has increased slightly with a total value of $68 million in 2006, 3% more than in 2005.

Overall, aquaculture production fared better than the commercial fisheries. In 2006, the value of aquaculture production increased by $198 million to reach a total of $913 million, which represents an increase of 28%. This is mainly due to a 20% increase in the production volume of farmed salmon, coupled with an increase in value by $0.82/kg (+15%).

The gross revenue of the fish and seafood processing industry reached $4.2 billion in 2006, 2% less than 2005. A good part of the year-to-year variation in the value of Canadian seafood production is due to fluctuations between the Canadian and US currencies. This is because an estimated 85% ^{Footnote 1} of Canadian seafood production is exported, primarily to the United States. As such, the relative value of the two currencies play an important role in determining the annual performance of the Canadian seafood sector, with a weaker Canadian dollar as compared to the US dollar generating higher seafood values.

¹Landed value. Source: DFO, Economic Analysis and Statistics.
²Production value. Source: Statistics Canada, 2008, Aquaculture Statistics 2007, Catalogue no. 23-222-XIE.
³Source: Statistics Canada, ASML, 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 sea fisheries. Note that the added value from the processing sector in 2005 was estimated at $1,189m 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 2006, employment in the commercial fishing and aquaculture industries declined slightly as compared to 2005. The harvesting sector of the commercial fishing industry employed 51,462 fish harvesters and crew members, 1,360 less than in 2005 (-3%). The aquaculture industry itself employed 3,970 people, approximately 1% more than in 2005.

In 2006, the fish processing industry employed 28,587 workers, 755 less than in 2005. This represents a decrease of 3%, which is on par with the decrease in the number of workers employed in the harvesting sectors between 2005 and 2006.

¹Number of fish harvesters and crew. Source: DFO, Regional Statistical Units.
²Source: Statistics Canada, Aquaculture Value Added Statistics.
³Source: Statistics Canada, ASML, 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 Canadian agriculture industry has decreased by 2% in 2006. However, the fish harvesting and processing sectors have shown a reverse trend with positive growth rates of 2% and 1% respectively. Meanwhile, the performance of the Canadian economy as a whole increased by 3%.

¹NAICS for the industries shown in this table are 11, 114 and 3117. Source: Statistics Canada, Table 399-0025.
²Note that chained dollars allow to calculate growth rates, but not the contribution of each industry to the total Canadian GDP, as aggregates are not equal to the sum of their components.
³The contribution of fishing to the GDP of this category is estimated at 90% by Statistics Canada.
⁴Category "Seafood product preparation and packaging" (NAICS 3117).