Thank you very much for the invitation.
I'll start out with a bit of a description of what our association is. We're the national industry association that represents the interests of Canadian seafood farmers across Canada, feed companies and suppliers, as well as provincial finfish and shellfish aquaculture associations. Most of my comments this afternoon are going to be focused on farmed seafood, but I thought it would be helpful to give the committee an overview of the EU market for Canadian seafood to start out with.
The EU is the largest seafood import market in the world and it's a growing market. Canadian fish and seafood exports to the EU are currently about $400 million. These exports have attracted an average tariff of 11%, with some up to 25%, making access obviously quite difficult. With CETA, 96% of tariff lines will become duty free immediately and others will be duty free within seven years.
The new free trade agreement will open up large new opportunities for seafood, including farmed seafood.
Let's take a look at the current situation analysis for farmed seafood products exported to the EU. With limited potential to increase farmed seafood production right now in Canada, any new markets require diverting products from existing markets. When you add the high tariff rates to the supply limitation, you can see why the EU has not been a priority export market to date. However, we have had some limited opportunity with high-value niche products, such as live oysters, value-added mussels, caviar, and farmed sablefish. This is just a list of products that we currently export to the EU. I won't go over them because of time.
What are the near-term opportunities? When CETA is implemented those companies that are doing business in the EU now will be definitely looking to expand. While competition in seafood is very intense, the demand for seafood is growing, particularly in the EU. Canada has a reputation for consistent high-quality farmed seafood products, so that's a very good foundation. However, if the Canadian industry is allowed to grow, the EU will become a natural new market for high-end value-added farmed seafood products. This will also result in new jobs here in Canada, as value-added products require additional labour.
Let's look at the global trends and see where farmed seafood fits in. The global population, as we know, will exceed nine billion by 2030. We also know that land and freshwater resources are becoming scarce for increased food production. Aquaculture is the fastest growing food industry in the world, with an annual growth rate of 6% to 7% per year. With that growing population and the increasing awareness of health benefits of seafood, it gives us a very strong market demand for farmed seafood now and into the future.
I'll turn to the current situation for aquaculture in Canada today. We're valued at $2.1 billion. We employ 14,500 full-time workers, particularly in rural and coastal communities. We farm in every province as well as Yukon. We're one-third of the total value of Canada's fisheries production, and we export certainly the majority of what we produce.
Canada has the potential, however, to do so much more. Canadian aquaculture grew rapidly from the early 1980s to the end of the 1990s, but since that time, even considering pockets of growth in some areas of the country, overall industry growth has basically been stagnant, as you can see on the slide. Adding to that, despite our enormous competitive advantages, Canada's share of the world's farmed fish market has fallen by 40% during the past decade. Canada now only accounts for 0.2% of global aquaculture production. This stagnation has taken place while other producers in New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, and Chile have raced ahead. As a result, certainly Canada is missing an opportunity, and at a time when there is a such a huge demand for food globally, it's a missed opportunity for the world.
The natural question is why have we flatlined? The principal challenge confronting our sector is the complicated set of regulations that restrict growth and limit investment. Our industry is regulated by the Fisheries Act, which is a wildlife management act. It was never meant for an innovative food production sector like aquaculture. This is a piece of legislation that dates back to Confederation when commercial aquaculture in Canada didn't even exist.
In addition, rapid development of the sector in the 1980s and 1990s resulted in a myriad of federal, provincial, and local regulations, many of them implemented before commercial aquaculture was even a significant activity.
As a result of this patchwork approach, many of these policies and regulations are reactive and inefficient. Together they create an overarching policy framework that retards competitiveness, obscures certainty, and stalls growth.
I need to stress that the industry is not looking for less regulation, just more efficient regulation. Discussion about the need for a new regulatory and legislative framework is not new. Numerous reviews, reports, and studies have been done over the past 30 years that highlight the inappropriate legislative, regulatory, and policy environment that exists in Canada. Most recently, the Conference Board of Canada released a report on how to improve the economic viability of Canada's seafood industries. In that report they also recommended an aquaculture act.
This next slide is a result of discussions with our members, both finfish and shellfish, who are interested in investing and growing their aquaculture businesses in the short, medium, and longer term. Projected growth is based on the assumption that we will achieve improvements to the regulatory, legislative, and policy environment. This projected growth not only positively impacts employment and economic activity, as you can see, for rural and coastal communities, but also allows us to capitalize on trade agreements such as CETA.
In summary, our association certainly supports and applauds the federal government with respect to CETA. However, we require increased growth and competitiveness to take significant advantage of this market opportunity. Aquaculture in Canada offers tremendous opportunities. Working together we can renew a vibrant aquaculture industry in Canada and unlock the full range of economic, environmental, and public health benefits that flow from a growing farmed seafood sector. That work together will require regulatory reform, a national aquaculture act, and vision for growth.
Thank you.