It says, “Poor signs for N.L. snow crab. Official DFO survey results available early next year”. We know the world is changing. Stocks are going to be in decline in respect to shellfish in Newfoundland and Labrador and groundfish will come back, but these are the valuable species. These are the species of high value per kilogram in the marketplace, much more so than cod is, so we will need that much more groundfish to make up for the absent shellfish value. The crab, our most valuable species, are in decline, with an aging population and low birth rates. The story is written.
While there are signs of groundfish recovery, we are in no way back to the old days of groundfish abundance. The northern cod stock, the very foundation of our province, remains in the critical zone, and fishery removals must be kept to a minimum.
So the world is changing, but we have not changed. Aspects of the model, such as how capital is used and secured and how harvesters are permitted to access the resource, as well as the business relationships between harvester and harvester and between harvester and producer are all highly regulated, with ostensibly good goals but at high costs.
My message this morning is that the model must change so that industry participants and Canada as a whole can derive greater value from the industry. We need stronger fisheries management, better resource science, and more sustainable fisheries practices. All of those cost money, and a healthier, more sustainable business model can achieve it. As I heard recently in Iceland, “We can't be green until we're out of the red.” We can take better care of the fish in the process. A new model can do better.
There's a third model. I referenced the first one, the capture-driven model, and the second one, the market-driven model, but there's a third model. I'll close by expanding on that briefly.
In many parts of Iceland, and increasingly so, there's a research- and value-driven model that includes innovation, ocean clusters, added value, pharmaceuticals, skin grafts from cod skin, beauty products, high-level food protein, enzyme extraction for food flavouring, and the list goes on. The joke is, “You take the fillet, and we'll take the rack and the rest of the fish, because we'll have higher value from that.” That's not our model.
While Iceland's cod resource has declined over the years, the value per kilogram of catch grows. Their model is such that it allows for extremely high quality, capital development, greater wealth from less resource, and more sustainable fisheries overall, whether measured in terms of economics, fish sustainability, or social sustainability. They go together. That takes a new model with a focus on fish sustainability, on capital accumulation and reinvestment, and on market and innovation.
Thank you very much.