Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee for the opportunity.
I provided the clerk with a copy of the paper that I'll touch upon today, which is on collaborating to accelerate sustainable growth in the aquaculture sector in this province.
This document has been a collaborative effort between the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Canada, and the industry. We formed a 25-person committee and we looked at the industry as it is today and how we grow that. The provincial government under Dwight Ball's leadership has identified aquaculture as a number one strategic investment sector for the province because of the benefits that we realize or that we provide to rural coastal communities.
If you're familiar with Newfoundland and Labrador, we all look back at 1992 and the collapse of the north Atlantic cod stocks. Many communities that saw no future, didn't see the bright light at the end of the tunnel, now, because of the industry that we provide, whether it's mussels or salmon, do have a future. Many communities such as Gaultois and Hermitage, once far removed from anywhere, like here in the city, now see 100% employment in the industry. We are revitalizing rural coastal communities.
I've mentioned this paper. What we've done is identified all the barriers. Premier Ball and his government have agreed with industry to double Atlantic salmon production at 50,000 metric tons by 2022 and to triple the shellfish production by the same year. How are we going to do that? We have a plan. We've released two documents. The first one is a 28-point work plan that would fall under the regulatory framework of the provincial government. We've also released this document that's been provided to Minister LeBlanc for his consideration and the consideration of the Government of Canada. This contains 12 points on what the Government of Canada can do to help grow the industry, not just in Newfoundland and Labrador but from coast to coast to coast.
In Newfoundland and Labrador we currently employ about 1,000 people directly on farms. For every one of those jobs, it's about a 3.5 ratio, so it's spin-off jobs in the service supply industry, for example. Those jobs may not be as recognizable here in the city, but in the rural coastal communities where we operate they certainly are a huge benefit. As I've mentioned, communities that saw no future now have a future. But there are some recommendations. Of the 12 that are mentioned in this document that I've provided to the clerk, I'll touch on six very briefly.
The first one is a national act for aquaculture. In Canada right now we are governed under the Fisheries Act. I think it was written in 1867, Mr. Chair. The word “aquaculture” is not mentioned in the act. What that does is it creates uncertainty for investment, as Mr. Russell talked about, capital investment, foreign investment. We don't have the confidence of investors right now because we don't have an act that even has the term for the industry of which we're regulated, so we're pushing for that.
I know that Senator Manning, the chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans at our conference last year had released a report called, “An Ocean of Opportunities: Aquaculture in Canada”, which has identified and acts as a major priority for that committee. They support that. We've been talking to Minister LeBlanc and his counterparts in the federal government to do that. It doesn't have a budget. I don't think it's a budgetary item, Mr. Chair, but it's something for the committee to certainly consider before we move forward as an industry.
There are four or five others that I would certainly touch on. One is CSSP—being from Prince Edward Island—the Canadian shellfish sanitation program, which is there to ensure safety to Canadians and safety to foreign markets. The problem is that, in order for us to grow the industry, all of our sites have to be classified. When someone comes to the government, whether provincially or federally, and wants a new site to expand mussels or oysters, whether in Newfoundland and Labrador, or in P.E.I., those sites have to be surveyed. They have to be tested to ensure that they are safe to farm seafood sustainably and responsibly for local domestic markets and markets abroad.
The issue that we find is that there's so much interest in expanding our aquaculture industry on the east coast that there's not enough money through the CSSP program to enable government employees to do that, so there's a bottleneck of applications. Really, we're stalled in that. I think we can certainly triple shellfish production in this province, but that's one barrier that we need to overcome. I would certainly ask that more monetary investment be considered for the Canadian shellfish sanitation program.
As well, under the former administration, the only certified CFIA, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, laboratory was closed in St. John's. In Newfoundland and Labrador we have no certified lab. This fourth point is critically important not just to the food industry within which I'm responsible for aquaculture, but to all food industries. Closest to Newfoundland and Labrador, we would choose between either Moncton or Dartmouth. I'll give you an example. If we had heavy rains today and our shellfish program were shut down—because after a heavy rainfall we can't operate—it takes weeks to get samples back from mainland Canada.
I ask that you to review the monetary expenses and look at the value proposition for the expansion not just of aquaculture but of poultry or cattle, for example, and make a future monetary investment in and re-establish a CFIA lab here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
As well, there's the cost recovery. CFIA is currently undergoing public consultations about the cost recovery of certain services offered by the Government of Canada, which would be prohibitive to most shellfish operators and their ability to expand in the future.
My fifth point is about infrastructure. Telecommunications and wharf infrastructure are absolutely critical not just to wild harvest fisheries but also to the expanding aquaculture industry. We have great support in this province from small craft harbours through the Department of Fisheries and Oceans; however, there's always a necessity for more.
In looking at future expansion with additional companies coming to Newfoundland and Labrador, the largest salmon producer, Marine Harvest, now has seven sites in this province and 17 in some various levels of approval. Grieg, another Norwegian company, is looking at major expansion plans, but we have to provide the infrastructure for them to do that, not just environmentally responsibly but safely.
In many areas in which we operate in rural coastal communities, there are no telecommunications and Internet. In today's society, with technology and the high level of technology that we utilize in the industry, it's absolutely paramount that we get further investment into infrastructure, whether it's telecommunications or wharf infrastructure or roads, for example.
The final point I'd like to touch on very quickly is business risk management. Unlike terrestrial farmers in the agriculture industry, there is no insurance currently in which the government could certainly play a part. For agriculture we have agri-insurance so that in some unfortunate circumstance where some catastrophic event created a crop fail, for example, the government would help subsidize a national insurance program for agriculture. That doesn't exist for aquaculture.
In aquaculture, we should be looked at as being as important an industry as agriculture. An aqua-insurance program would mitigate any type of loss, but would also create assurance for future investors that Canada is open for business in aquaculture.
On that, Mr. Chair, I'll end. Thank you for your time.