Atlantic Fisheries Fund

Purpose/Objective

The $325 million investment in the Atlantic Fisheries Fund will transform and drive innovation in the fish and seafood sector in Canada with a focus on developing the sector to better meet growing market demands for sustainably sourced, high quality fish and seafood products. The fund will position the sector for even greater future success by supporting market entry and growth, creating jobs for the middle class and supporting coastal communities that rely on the sector.

Principles

The approach taken by the Atlantic Fisheries Fund is flexible. The Government of Canada will be working with provinces to understand their priorities and ensure that unique and shared challenges are addressed.

The Atlantic Fisheries Fund will encourage innovative ways to harvest, process and deliver the highest quality and sustainably sourced fish and seafood products from Canada’s wild capture and aquaculture fisheries, and will be based on:

Partnerships: between the Government of Canada, the Provinces and Territories, industry, labour organizations and Indigenous communities to identify and support potential projects and activities;

Innovation: strategic investments to improve quality, marketability and sustainability; and

Knowledge sharing: enhancing collaboration to improve our scientific knowledge of the marine environment and the impacts of changing ocean conditions on fish species, stocks, communities and fishers which contribute to the long term sustainable management of our fisheries.

Areas of interest

Through discussions with the provinces, we will identify specific areas of interest that will be advance a more prosperous fish and seafood sector focusing on:

• innovative processes and technologies;
• infrastructure that could improve fish and seafood product quality and sustainability;
• enhancing partnerships to better understand our scientific knowledge of the North Atlantic marine environment and the related changing oceanic conditions.

A portion of the fund will also be available to increase the capacity of the Canadian fish and seafood sector to develop existing markets and enter new markets.

Process

This is a partnership where projects will be identified, prioritized and cost-shared with provinces, and where private sector investments can be leveraged. The federal and provincial governments will work with industry, union and Indigenous communities, scientific and other experts in the fish and seafood sector to help identify priorities for investments, project possibilities, and potential partnerships.