Minister of Workforce and Advanced Learning Richard Brown and Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Alan McIsaac said they were very pleased with the information provided to federal and provincial government officials during the recent Maritime Fisheries Forum in Moncton.
"The Maritime Seafood Coalition did a very good job bringing together harvesters, processors, and government stakeholders from the Maritime provinces to discuss the issues critical to the future growth of the maritime seafood industry," said Minister Brown.
The main focus of the meeting was to highlight the challenges that the processing sector is facing to recruit and retain workers and the key role that the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program has played and must continue to play in the sector.
“The presentations made by harvester groups, plant owners, human resource personnel, and economists presented compelling facts that the industry is doing everything it can to attract workers to prepare our high quality seafood products for international markets,” Minister McIsaac said.
Industry representatives told elected officials and government representatives that a stable workforce must be secured if Maritime Canada is going to take advantage of the opportunities that will arise from the increases in landings of some of our seafood products like lobster, crab, mussels and oysters. With new trade agreements being developed around the world, the sector is seeking supportive government policy to be able to attract the workforce needed to process the fish.
"I was especially pleased to hear many of the processing plant owners speak so highly about their loyal, dedicated workforce of Canadian workers that have helped to build the industry and the role that foreign workers play in helping sustain jobs," said Minister Brown.
The Maritime Seafood Coalition is a group of industry associations representing harvesters and processors that have come together to address issues impacting industry growth. The initial goal of the group is to address the changes made to the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program and the impact on the labour supply and viability of the industry in the Maritimes.
The seafood industry is a major component of the economy of the Maritimes with the landed value of catches on Prince Edward Island worth more than $318 million in 2013.