The upcoming Cold Harvest Conference brings Canada’s multi-billion-dollar seafood farming sector together as Ottawa seeks new investment, pushes domestic food production and faces a defining choice over the future of B.C. salmon farming.
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
Canada’s aquaculture leaders will gather in St. John’s next week at a moment when Prime Minister Mark Carney’s promises on investment, food security and economic growth are colliding with an unresolved decision over the future of salmon farming in British Columbia.
The Cold Harvest & Aquaculture Canada Conference and Trade Show, running Sept. 15 to 17, will bring together more than 350 industry leaders, scientists, policymakers and technology specialists from Canada and abroad.
It opens as the B.C. salmon farming awaits a pivotal federal decision on the activist-driven Trudeau-era policy to end conventional salmon farming after June 30, 2029, on Canada’s west coast.
It also comes as Carney hosts the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, which will bring together global entrepreneurs, Canadian CEOs and public-sector leaders as the government seeks to catalyse $1 trillion in total investment over the next five years.
Ottawa describes the gathering as a forum for mobilizing long-term capital, moving projects forward, creating jobs and strengthening Canada’s economic resilience.
Its pitch is succinct: “Canada has what the world wants. Choose Canada. Invest in Canada.” For Canada’s aquaculture industry, much of that language sounds familiar.
Canada’s seafood farmers have repeatedly said they are offering many of the things Carney says he wants, including private investment, domestic food production, jobs in rural and coastal communities, Indigenous partnerships, export growth and greater resilience in Canadian food supply chains.
The sector argues that what it lacks is the regulatory certainty needed to unlock more of that investment.
Atlantic provinces are already telling Ottawa that what happens in B.C. is affecting investment decisions on the other side of the country.
Federal Fisheries and Oceans briefing documents released this year show eastern provinces have warned that federal salmon decisions in B.C. have damaged investor confidence in Atlantic Canada and created mixed messages for Canadians.
The provinces have called on Ottawa to reaffirm provincial authority over aquaculture, send a clear and consistent message supporting sustainable development and provide the industry with a stronger federal champion.
Atlantic Canada is actively promoting aquaculture growth and seeking new investment, while in British Columbia years of policy uncertainty have already contributed to capital flight, farm closures and job losses across coastal communities.
At Cold Harvest, that east-west divide will be addressed directly.
Resource Works founder and CEO Stewart Muir will open a session on cooperation in natural resource industries with a presentation carrying the provocative title “How to Kill an Industry; The B.C. Salmon Story, and its Warning to Global Aquaculture.”
Cermaq Canada’s Jennifer Woodland, who is also the chair of the BC Salmon Farmers Association will join Muir on the panel with Lorelei Roberts of the Association of Seafood Producers.
Another B.C. participant, Emily Warren of Young Salmon Farmers BC, will take part in a panel titled “Who’s Next? Building the Next Generation of Aquaculture Leaders.”
Scott Ross, executive director of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, will give the keynote address, “Feeding the Future: Seizing Aquaculture’s Potential in a Resilient and Competitive Canadian Agri-food System.”
Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance president and CEO Tim Kennedy will moderate an interactive panel titled “From Vision to Reality: Beyond Reaction & Transaction.”
The broader Cold Harvest program reflects an industry looking well beyond the immediate political fight.
Scott Ross, executive director of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, will give the keynote address, “Feeding the Future: Seizing Aquaculture’s Potential in a Resilient and Competitive Canadian Agri-food System.”
Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance president and CEO Tim Kennedy will moderate an interactive panel titled “From Vision to Reality: Beyond Reaction & Transaction.”
The panel includes Cooke Aquaculture’s Joel Richardson and Lisa Bishop-Spencer of the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity.
DFO’s Melinda Scott is scheduled to speak on regulatory harmonization, while scientists and companies will present work on AI-assisted fish health, salmon breeding, climate impacts and disease resistance.
Taken together, the Toronto and St. John’s gatherings create an unusual test of federal policy.
In Toronto, Carney will be telling global investors that Canada is stable, predictable and ready for long-term capital.
In St. John’s, one of Canada’s established and sustainable food-producing industries will be asking whether those same principles apply to aquaculture.
Canada’s aquaculture sector already generates about $6 billion in annual economic activity, contributes roughly $2.27 billion to GDP and supports more than 18,000 full-time jobs.
In B.C., salmon farming contributes about $1.17 billion in annual economic activity, supports roughly 4,560 full-time jobs, including more than 1,000 held by Indigenous workers, and does business with about 1,400 suppliers and service companies.
The industry says that with regulatory certainty and new investment, B.C. salmon farming could grow to $2.5 billion in annual output by 2030, contribute about $930 million to GDP and support close to 9,000 jobs. By 2040, its growth plan projects $4.2 billion in annual output and more than 16,000 jobs.
Main image (L to R) shows – Jennifer Woodland, chair of the BC Salmon Farmers Association, Stewart Muir, founder of Resource Works and Emily Warren from the Young Salmon Farmers of BC.