Despite being heavily affected by Hurricane Fiona and rising costs, interest in Prince Edward Island seafood has remained strong.
Jamie Fox, the Minister of Fisheries and Communities for P.E.I., has cause to celebrate 2022 despite all the hardships the industry has undergone. Along with the other Atlantic provinces, his department has made major strides in communication with the federal government and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
“One of the big things this year was our continued growing of the relationship between the government of Canada, DFO and our department,” said Fox.
“We’d been leading that charge on behalf of the Atlantic ministers. I chair that group. So, we’ve been able to have a very consistent message to the federal government and they’ve been very receptive in hearing our message… For once, since forever, Atlantic Canada, including Québec, is talking with one voice into DFO, and I’m very proud of that accomplishment.”
On a provincial scale, however, P.E.I.’s fisheries were one of the hardest hit by Hurricane Fiona — particularly their mussels and oysters. The province expects the repercussions of the event to last until 2024. Fortunately, the lobster season had just ended before Fiona struck, so landings weren’t affected to any major degree. While the market for lobster remained strong in P.E.I., factors such as wharf prices and input costs such as fuel mitigated a lot of returns on sales.
“Lobster remains strong, of course. The landings were down a little bit, but the demand is continuing to increase as it applies outside of Canada on the export market. There’s new added interest from other countries into our province and our products, so that’s very encouraging,” said Fox.
“The impact for the fisher was the high cost of fuel and petroleum. We saw… I’ll call it a stable price, but that stable price was impacted due to the output costs that are required to land the product and get it to market — specifically around the petroleum industry, but also in some cases the need to pay higher wages to attract workers to move the product.”
A problem Fox mentioned, not only in P.E.I., but Atlantic Canada, is the damage Hurricane Fiona did to infrastructure. Fiona is estimated to have done around $660-million worth of damage across the region. He also highlighted the need to make infrastructure more robust to prepare for more severe weather in the future due to climate change.
“The problem now is repairing these harbours and wharves, not only in Prince Edward Island but across the Atlantic region to have them ready for the upcoming 2023 season, which going to be upon us in four or five months,” said Fox.
“I’m very happy with the ability of the federal government to engage the provinces very quickly in what supports that are needed as we get this infrastructure back up for the next season, but also taking into mind what climate change is bringing and how this infrastructure has to be made more resilient for the future coming up.”
According to the minister, demand for P.E.I. aquaculture products was high this year, especially from foreign countries. Oysters sold particularly well, selling over 74 million oysters outside of the province with a landed value of around $50 million.
“The demand is very strong, and it’s continued to get stronger,” said Fox. “I’ve met with various foreign governments over the last while, and their interest in P.E.I. seafood is growing. That’s because of the reputation we have of providing a product that is top-quality, and that it’s a sustainable fishery and aquaculture industry for the future. So other foreign governments are very interested in the reputation or the model we’ve put in place over the number of years.”
A major development that P.E.I. is moving forward quickly on is getting old fishing gear out of circulation. Phase one of this plan began in 2020, with cleanup crews patrolling the shoreline to dispose of fishing gear that had washed ashore. Phase two of this plan, which is set to begin rolling out in early 2023, will be to invite fish harvesters to turn in old gear to their local wharf, where the Department of Fisheries and Communities will collect it at no cost to the harvester.
“This is a way of helping our fishers get rid of this gear, get it out of circulation and also help the environment by lessening the possibility of it landing on a shore, or becoming ghost gear or ending up in somebody’s backyard,” explained Fox.
Beyond his 2023 cleanup initiative, Fox believes the year to come should be one of fostering relationships with businesses and governments within and outside of Canada. He noted that enhanced methods of shipping such as air transportation must be a priority in the upcoming year to ensure seafood products reach the markets quickly and efficiently.
“There’s opportunities for Atlantic Canadians to work together and not as individuals to promote our fine products to the rest of the world, and also domestic markets,” said Fox. “We must make sure the infrastructure is in place to support a blue economy and make sure that our products move efficiently and as freely as possible with the best economic price attached.”
