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Ms. d’Auray’s has a BA, Political Science, University of Ottawa. Ms. Swan has recently replaced Francois Guimont as President of CFIA. Ms. Swan has held numerous senior government positions, including Senior Associate Deputy Minister of Industry, Associate Secretary of Treasury Board, Senior Director, Economic Sector, Treasury Board. Ms. Swan has a MA (Economics) and an Honours BA (Economics) from the University of Manitoba. Mr. Guimont has been appointed Deputy Minister, Public works and Government Services. Canada-Spain Industry Meeting A Canada-Spain industry meeting was held in Madrid regarding possible cooperative efforts in NAFO. Canada presented a preliminary coral conservation strategy. The initiative is in response to discussions governments are having regarding a 2007 NAFO coral initiative. The intent is to present an industry initiative that is credible but limits the impact on current fishing by various NAFO fleets. As well, Canada presented a proposed deep water NAFO fishing protocol. This initiative is in response to calls to “freeze the footprint” of bottom trawling in the area. The protocol would be based on the 2006 NAFO seamounts protocol but less onerous as the sensitivity of the concern is less. The initial reaction of the Spanish industry to this initiative was positive provided it apply only to depths of 2,000 metres and deeper. Discussions were also pursued regarding the need to convert the present NAFO effort control regime for 3M shrimp to a TAC and quota regime. The concern is that landings have been in the 48,000mt range but if the allocated sea days were fully utilized the harvest could be 100,000mt. Weak market conditions have restrained the efforts thus far. However, there are indications of possible price improvement in the market place. This positive development would be quickly undermined if 3M landings increased significantly. The Spanish industry had indicated that they would table a possible NAFO scientific initiative employing Spanish fishing vessels. However, no such proposal was tabled. The Spanish industry undertook to consider the Canadian proposals and advise of their positions mid/late July. CITES – Positive Developments The two week CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) meeting in The Hague ended with victories for the commercial fishing industry and the FAO’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Department. Delegates supported the recommendations of the FAO’s Expert Panel, rejecting the conflicting recommendations of the CITES Secretariat. As well, delegates rejected the CITES Secretariats proposal for an increased role for CITES in commercially traded aquatic species. Decisions that could have impacted on the Canadian industry were proposals regarding Porbeagle shark, Spiny dogfish, European eel, and Spiny lobster. The International Coalition of Fisheries Associations (ICFA), of which the FCC is a founding member, will be meeting with the FAO in October to review a number of issues including the continuing efforts of environmentalist to get CITES used as a fisheries management tool. Cooked & Peeled Shrimp: EU – Further Delays The formal adoption of the 20,000mt 6% import duty for cooked & peeled shrimp was scheduled at the June 28 EU Council meeting. However the final linguistic and legal review of the regulation was not completed in time. It’s now scheduled for adoption at the July 10th meeting. Shortly after the approval, the regulation will be published in the EU’s Official Journal. Three days after that the regulation enters into effect. Once the regulation is posted, the FCC will put out a notice on the procedures to obtain tariff refunds for product entered in 2007 at the 20% rate. Mercury in Fish – Health Canada’s Communication Initiative In response to Heath Canada’s updated 2007 advisory on mercury in fish, Health Canada has formed a working group to consider possible follow –up communication initiatives. The FCC is on the working group. At its first meeting, the FCC made a presentation outlining the market impact in the US following similar advisories in the US – 14% drop in canned tuna consumption (3.5lbs/capita to 2.9lbs/capita); drop of about 1.4 servings per month of fish in months following the 2003 US advisory. In the three months following Health Canada’s 2007 up date, canned fish sales fell 8%. And despite decreased retail prices, albacore (white) tuna dropped 9% and light tuna dropped 16%. A June 2007 industry–contracted Ipsos Reid survey reported that 34% of Canadians believe levels of mercury in canned tuna make it unsafe to eat. Health Canada’s concern is that high mercury absorption through the consumption of certain fish species fish will negatively affect the development of the fetus of pregnant female. As such, the FCC reported that we can support a targeted Health Canada communication initiative focused on obstetricians, gynecologists, pediatricians, general practitioners, and dietitians. In fact, following the advisory, the FCC mailed over 23,000 information packages to such groups. The FCC would oppose expanding the communication initiative beyond the targeted group as the evidence indicates that such efforts tend to lead to a reduction of fish and seafood consumption to the detriment of the health of Canadians overall and undermines Health Canada’s Food Guide recommendation that Canadians should eat at least 2 meals of fish a week. The FCC will be working with the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors (CCGD) as the project progresses. CCGD is concerned about the possibility that Health Canada may want food retailers to post signs, provide pamphlets, etc in their stores regarding mercury in fish. Export Certifications – Systems Approach With an increasing number of countries demanding CFIA export certifications and certificates that go beyond simply verifying the safety of the product but include vessel conditions, landing sites, construction, equipment, transportation, storage, and distribution, CFIA is embarking upon an initiative to issue export certificates based on an assessment of the exporters food safety system rather than sampling of the shipment. The benefit to exporters is that once their system is approved they are assured of obtaining the required export certificate. That is, the exporter won’t have to wait for CFIA to determine if it wants to sample the shipment before issuing the certificate. Of course, the exporter’s food safety system would be subject to re-verification from time to time. CFIA hopes to be able to implement the systems approach sometime in 2008. This summer efforts will be devoted to information gathering to ensure that they fully understand the production chain. In the Fall, they hope to get some exporters currently involved in specific export certificate categories – live lobsters, live fish and seafood, off-shore shrimp vessels, high volume exporters, regulated plants – to participate in pilot projects. In the spring, CFIA would analyze the results, try to harmonize a possible approach across the categories, and identify regulatory changes that would be required to move to the systems approach and away from the product testing approach. The FCC will be working with its Technological Committee as the initiative moves forward. Exports to Russia – Approved Establishments Just as Russia copied the EU tariff schedule, it now wants to copy some of the EU’s fish and seafood import requirements. Russia has provided CFIA with establishment requirements in order to be eligible to export to Russia. They requested CFIA to provide them with an approved establishment list by August 2008. CFIA reports there are currently about 150-160 establishments exporting to Russia. CFIA plans to do a systems audit of a handful of the plants as a proxy for a complete review and submit Canada’s approved registered establishments. In the interim, because of possible communications breakdowns, please advise the FCC if your shipments experience any difficulty entering Russia. USFDA Detains Imports of Farm –Raised Chinese Seafood The announcement that the USFDA has imposed broader import control on farm-raised catfish, basa, shrimp, dace(carp) and eel from China has generated questions regarding the situation in Canada. Below are the FCC talking points on the issue: US Food Retail Sector Continues to Change The US food retailing industry hasn't been the same since Wal-Mart burst onto the national scene back in the 90s. The super-giant of super-centers changed the way consumers did their foof shopping and prompted a wake-up call to traditional food store chains. Since that time, the industry has gone throught numerous mergers, acquisitions and sell-offs in an attempt to maintain profitability and , frankly, viability in this extremely comptetative infustry.  SEE YOU IN VANCOUVER AT THE FOUR SEASONS HOTEL OCTOBER 23-25, 2007 |