As the UN reports major international gains in aquaculture, seafood industry leaders gathering in Ottawa warn that Canada is moving in the opposite direction, undermining investment, coastal stability and Indigenous-led operations.
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
A new United Nations report shows that aquaculture is now the main source of growth in the world’s aquatic food supply, expanding at a pace that outstrips traditional capture fisheries and reshaping global seafood production.
The latest FAO Food Outlook projects global fisheries and aquaculture output to reach 197 million tonnes in 2025, an increase of 1.7 percent from last year. Nearly all of that growth comes from farmed production, which is forecast to rise 2.7 percent, while capture harvests are expected to remain largely unchanged at 92.9 million tonnes.
According to the FAO, aquaculture now provides more than half of all aquatic food consumed worldwide. Per capita consumption of farmed fish has reached 12.7 kilograms, compared with 8.7 kilograms from wild capture. The report also notes a 2.1 percent increase in global trade volumes for aquatic products, with export value expected to climb to USD 193.3 billion in 2025.
Countries with large aquaculture industries recorded significant export gains. Vietnam added US$1 billion in shipments this year, Ecuador increased exports by USD$900 million, and India expanded its trade by US$800 million, driven by strong demand for shrimp and processed seafood.
In Europe, governments are pumping funding into new aquaculture capacity. Norway, the world’s Atlantic Salmon powerhouse, shipped more than 1.3 million tonnes of seafood in the first half of this year, setting an export record. The United States is green-lighting new offshore projects, and Scotland is recovering with strong production and export growth.
Meanwhile, Chile is projecting the value of its salmon sector to more than double to US$399 million by 2033, driven by export expansion and government-backed sustainability programs. And in Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego, the government is set to repeal a 2021 law banning marine and freshwater salmon farming.
That’s the global story. The Canadian story is something else entirely.
Canada’s seafood farmers were in Ottawa this week with a message to politicians that cuts through the policy incoherence about aquaculture, which is now threatening jobs, investment and the economic future of coastal and Indigenous communities.
They said if Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to build a nation anchored in sustainable growth, food security and Indigenous economic strength, aquaculture has to be at the centre of that vision. It’s where the global numbers, domestic reality and Carney’s own nation-building rhetoric meet.
But rather than positioning itself to benefit from this global growth, Ottawa is moving toward policies that would reduce domestic seafood production by advancing an activist-influenced plan to remove salmon farms from British Columbia.
Canadian aquaculture leaders who were in the capital this week, meeting with MPs, Senators and senior officials, drove home the message that Carney’s administration can’t talk about nation-building while dismantling one of its most promising growth sectors.
Salmon farming in BC currently generates $1.17 billion in annual economic activity. It supports 4,560 full-time jobs. All salmon farms operate in formal partnerships with First Nations.
The BC Salmon Farmers Association says that with support comparable to what competing nations are providing, the sector could expand production to generate $2.5 billion in annual economic activity, contribute $930 million to GDP and support 9,000 jobs, through agreements with Rights Holder First Nations.
“The salmon farming sector has demonstrated its value but continues to be sidelined by federal hesitation and activist pressure,” said Dallas Smith, who speaks on behalf the Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS).
“It’s still perplexing to me how hard of a discussion it is to help build the economy around aquaculture in Canada…We have reached a point where we’re importing seafood that we grew for 20 years on the coast, and now we’re buying it from Chile and Scotland,” said Smith on the sidelines of last week’s Indigenous Partnership Success Showcase (IPSS),in Vancouver.
Meanwhile, a new international review by leading aquaculture scientists warns that Canada’s plan to phase out ocean salmon farms in BC disregards decades of established research, puts coastal community stability at risk, and offers little measurable benefit to struggling wild salmon stocks.
The paper, published in Reviews in Aquaculture, cites BC directly and identifies it as a key example of political decisions overtaking scientific evidence in aquaculture policy. The authors, who include researchers from the United States, Australia, Sweden and several major universities, state that governance shortcomings rather than farm-level science have driven Ottawa’s target to close BC salmon farms by 2029.
They report that Canada is dismantling a food-production system that has consistently reduced its environmental footprint while increasing imports from regions with weaker standards and significantly higher emissions.
(Main image shows Canada’s seafood industry leaders in Ottawa this week for meetings with federal policy makers)