Mr. Chair, I hope you're hearing me well. Thanks very much for this opportunity on behalf of our 13,000 members here in what is, at least today, sunny and warm Newfoundland. I'm not sure if that's so for all of the province.
The Fish, Food and Allied Workers represent all inshore harvesters in our province: 3,000 owner-operator enterprises and their crew members as well. Our scope of membership also includes those in the processing sector.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the value of the inshore fishery cannot be understated. It is closely connected to our culture and continues to support our coastal communities. Throughout our history, hard-working men and women have devoted their lives to the ocean around us, a dedication that has been the backbone of our province.
Today, our collective success depends on keeping the value of this industry in their capable hands.
Year after year, we witness the increased concentration of the provincial processing sector. Our members have continued to raise concerns about the corporatization of the fishery, particularly by multinational corporations owned by other countries. Thank you for paying attention to such an important issue for us.
It is significant to note that this high degree of corporate concentration in the fish processing sector in the province has not been a positive development. It has depressed competition for prices at the wharf, stifled the ability of harvesters to seek new buyers and has really swung the labour relations environment in the direction of the processing companies, without the transparency we need. These negative impacts are only exacerbated when corporate control is in the hands of foreign entities.
A foreign-owned crown corporation has become the largest processing company in Newfoundland and Labrador. It has taken over two major companies and other small companies. Royal Greenland, as Melanie said, is owned by the Government of Greenland. The company is beholden to the people of Greenland and Denmark and is able to access unprecedented capital to further expand into any market.
As a government-owned company, Royal Greenland has certain social responsibilities and accountabilities to Greenland that it doesn't have in Newfoundland and Labrador or Canada. This creates conflict, whereby Royal Greenland prioritizes Greenlandic harvesters and employees over the best interests of harvesters and employees right here. We saw this in shrimp in 2020, when they wouldn't buy shrimp in Newfoundland and Labrador but bought large amounts in Greenland. The success of Royal Greenland depends upon vertical integration between fishing fleets and the processing side of the seafood industry. They really have to circumvent the rules here in Canada, the federal regulations. Royal Greenland has created its own form of vertical integration through these controlling agreements.
When the purchase of a large processing company in the province was announced late in 2015, Royal Greenland stated, “If we want to invest in developing existing markets and building new ones, it is imperative that we consolidate and co-operate within our core species.” The intention was to dilute competition among processing companies and instead focus on competition with other proteins.
This perspective is incredibly harmful to independent fish harvesters who rely on fair competition to get fair and reasonable prices. Without the ability to access competitive pricing, harvesters are bound to financial relationships, sometimes with processors, that don't serve them. Royal Greenland seeks consolidation and co-operation across national borders. This is not to the benefit of workers or of harvesters and is really against policies that limit this foreign ownership.
We cannot allow one of our most valuable public resources, one with incredible socio-economic value and that quite literally puts food on our national table, to be sold to the highest international bidder. To do so would be a social and financial miscalculation that will be suffered by generations.
Continued access to our resources by foreign multinationals threatens our coastal communities that have been the stewards of our seas for generations. The survival of our coastal communities, which we proudly showcase as synonymous with Newfoundland and Labrador, relies on the protection of adjacent marine resources that provide meaningful employment and quality of life.
The recent changes to the Fisheries Act included “the preservation or promotion of the independence of licence holders in commercial inshore fisheries” in the purpose section. We recommend this committee propose tangible supports to follow up on this purpose.
There are several ways to do this, such as limiting corporate concentration with a special emphasis on foreign interests, ensuring an aggressive crackdown on illegal controlling agreements where corporate interests siphon the value of adjacent resources from our communities and focusing on supporting new owner-operator harvesters in this sector.
It is incumbent upon every member here and all who value our oceans to protect the public resource and ensure it is the people of Canada who enjoy the economic and societal benefits that come from our waters.
I know I'm up against my time limit, so I would be happy to have more conversation and answer questions.
Thank you for your time.