Canada has one of the most valuable fishing industries in the world, it is worth over $6 billion. Canada exports to more than 130 countries and contributes a lot to the Canadian economy. The industry provides many jobs for Canadians and is the economic dependence of around 1,500 communities. The industry catches a variety of different species of fish, etc. The main problem with the industry is over fishing, the fish industry has been trying to find a more sustainable way to fish.
Fishing is a big part of the Canadian economy, but we are causing many problems. We need to manage the resource wisely and not compromise future generations to use them. The fishing industry have various problems like over fishing, by-catch, and much more, too manage or make this resources more sustainable, we should make more fishing policies the reason for more policies is to preserve fish stocks. We can also reduce by-catch, meaning catching unwanted fish and other marine creatures during fishing for different species, this will also reduce environmental issues. Lastly we can reduce how much fish we catch, this is a sustainable solution and it will be effective at managing this resource. All the solutions listed above will help in managing and sustaining the resources (fish).
Fish can be located anywhere where there are bodies of water and where there’s enough food, oxygen and cover. How much is there you ask? There's tonnes of fish, Canada's commercial fishing landed 925,000 tonnes. The question is how does the Industry catch/extract fish, There are many method to catching fish. Some equipment to catch fish are hooks, lines, sinkers, floats, rods, reels, baits, lures, spears, nets, gaffs, traps, waders and tackle boxes. Most industries use gigantic nets.
Around 95% of the Canadian fish harvest is made into to food products, 75% (25% chilled and 50% frozen) prepared and filleted, 15% are preserved and 5% are canned. some advanced processing examples are, filleting/freezing, preserving and canning. Filleting means removing the bones from a fish. These are some way the fish are processed.
Benefits
We use this resource for many reason, they mainly are used for trading and consumption but they can also be used to make medicine and oil. Fish can also be consumed for better health. There is a tonnes of fish out their and It contributes a lot to the Canadian economy, it provides more than 120,000 jobs to Canadians. The industry is worth more than $6 billion and generates over $1 billion in GDP.
Exporting
Fish and seafood is one of the largest food sectors exported by Canada, we export this resource to more than 130 countries. Most of our fish and seafood caught are exported, in 2015 Canada exported $6 billion in fish and seafood. Our biggest trading partner is the United States, 63 percent of Canadian fish and seafood exports were destined for the United States for $3.1 billion in 2014. The People’s Republic of China and the European Union were also major export markets in 2014, these two markets alone valued 19 percent of total Canadian fish and seafood exports.
Issues and possible solutions
Fishing is a worldwide industry, and important to Canada. Over-fishing, illegal fishing activities and the destruction of ocean ecosystems are major problems that is a threat. We can end this by coming together and raise awareness about this issue, We have to enforce our policies and protect the ecosystem, this will be a huge step on solving this major problem.
Conclusion
Well, I hope you learned as much as I did about the Canadian fish industry. Overall we went through extraction and processing, benefits, Issues, solution and exporting.
Credits:
Created with images by MLundback - "fish" • Victoria Reay - "Fish" • News Oresund - "Fish shop Odden harbour 20130729_004" • greekfood-tamystika - "sardines fish plated food"