The ASP is a typical industry trade association. We represent the majority of seafood producers in the province, both by value and by volume. For the major species, snow crab and shrimp, we're close to 90%, so we're a significant organization.
You've asked us two very important questions. Whether we are responding in the context of question one as individuals or to question two as Canadian businesses, the benefits come back to us all, both as a country and as beneficiaries of a strong and dynamic business sector. Whether as employees or business owners, whether in business or as part of society generally, where we participate in the rewards of business—taxes to government, general services, a strong economy—we all benefit. These are important questions. They represent the core of what we want to achieve as a country for our collective benefit and not for the sake of the dollar, per se.
On behalf of the seafood producers that I represent, I would say one simple thing with respect to the seafood industry: change the model. I called it a simple thing, but it's not easy. Let me repeat: change the model.
There are at least three models of approach for fisheries the world over in terms of structure. The first is what we have been for a long time, which is a harvest-driven or capture model. We fish. We pride ourselves on that. We do it well. We focus on how much we catch, what the quotas are, what the allocations might be, and on the allocation debates—robbing Peter to pay Paul—between industry sectors, we focus on where the stocks might be growing, and yes, still in 2017 to a large measure, because it is a seasonal industry, we focus on the impacts of EI for both harvesters and plant workers.
That is the capture model. It is not, sadly, about innovation. It is not about capital accumulation for reinvestment or research. It's really just about fishing, and we're proud of it. We fish well. There's some processing, and then we sell it. That's our model.
The second model is the market-driven model. In this model we're focused on markets, ocean to plate. The plate becomes the new “cod end”, if you know the expression. It's what consumers want. It's about catching the fish, yes, as always, but also about selling it and really focusing on consumer and market demand. It's about letting that cod end—the plate—and the democracy of the marketplace, the prerogative of the consumer who is going to buy our fish, make the decision of what they want. It's about getting a certain value per kilo and then bringing back those returns.
I underscore bringing back the returns, because we are, above all, a trading industry. It is appropriate that in giving my testimony, my appearances before House of Commons committees have more often than not been made before the trade committee as opposed to the fisheries committee, because that is the nature of the business I represent. We're a trading industry. Some 90% plus of what we catch and produce in Newfoundland and Labrador is exported.
That second model has value. It's a step up from the catching model, the harvest-driven model, but Canada, sadly, is still too much along the lines of the first model in too many regards. That's my simple message this morning, because that represents an opportunity cost. We leave value on the table. It is lost value. We are, as has been said before, more focused sometimes on deriving EI value than on market value. That needs to change, because the world is changing.
I have a Telegram story from this morning. Am I allowed props, Mr. Chair?