Following a meeting of the Canadian Council of Fisheries & Aquaculture Ministers (CCFAM)
in June 2009, the Ministers started an initiative to review the issue of catch shares/ITQs in
Canada’s fisheries and their future role. In response the federal/provincial/territorial Deputy
Ministers established a Task Force of officials to develop a background document, an
analysis of the benefits and concerns of catch shares/ITQs, and propose recommendations
for going forward. The intent is for Ministers to have a thorough discussion of the issue and
path forward at their meeting in November 2010. In mid June, the Deputies met with the
Task Force to review the background material and to start work on the discussion paper for
the Ministers’ meeting in November.
In advance of the Deputies meeting, the Fisheries Council of Canada circulated a letter to
the Deputies and the Ministers. The main theme in the FCC letter was that the challenge for
government is to put in place a fishery resource management regime that provides
incentives for participants to support and contribute towards the conservation and
sustainability of fisheries resources and maximization of economic returns for licence
holders and Canadian society at large. Catch shares fisheries management regimes have
shown that they can deliver such incentives.
Our main recommendation was that Canada’s catch share fisheries management regime
can be improved substantially by providing legally secured long term access through the
establishment of fishing rights as business assets for financing, planning, and industry
renewal. These rights should only be altered for specifically defined offences or
conservation requirements.
FDA Canadian Plant Inspections
As part of the new FDA food safety regime, the Agency has received funding to undertake
foreign inspections of plants exporting to the USA. They will be coming to Canada in the
summer/fall to inspect about 40 plants; 12 of which are seafood plants. The focus of this
year’s inspection is canneries. The Canadian plants have been contacted directly by FDA.
With respect to the seafood plants, 6 are canneries and 6 are fresh/frozen/etc.
It appears the inspections will be fairly thorough – plant, equipment, sanitation, and HACCP
operation. This is not a systems audit. Any actions resulting from the inspections will be
plant specific. A CFIA inspector will accompany the USFDA team on all inspections.
Seafood Health Benefits Get High Level Endorsements: Need Governments to Better
Communicate
1. World Health Organization (WHO)/ UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)
WHO/FAO jointly published a report in May that says governments worldwide need to do a
better job emphasizing the health benefits of eating seafood, particularly the benefits to the
heart and brain.
Authored by 17 nutrition and toxicology experts at a meeting in Rome in January, 2010, the
WHO/FAO report concluded that, for the general public, eating seafood reduces the risk
death from heart disease. For women of childbearing age, eating fish during pregnancy and
breastfeeding lowers the risk of poor brain development in babies.
The report urges governments to more effectively communicate with the public to emphasize
health risks associated with a fish-free diet, such as coronary heart disease, and warn
women about the risk of avoiding seafood during pregnancy.
2. US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
Americans eat too little seafood and should be encourages to eat more for better brain
development in babies and heart health in adults, according to the report of the US’s Dietary
Guidelines Advisory Committee. The Committee is tasked by the US government to review
the latest in nutrition science and recommend changes to the government’s Dietary
Guidelines for Americans. Revisions of the Guidelines are expected at the end of the year.
Made up of the US’s top nutrition experts, the Committee report says eating seafood can
save lives – “consumption of two servings of seafood per week…. is associated with
reduced cardiac mortality from [coronary heart disease] or sudden death in persons with and
without [cardiovascular disease]
To quell “controversy and concern” about eating fish during pregnancy, the Committee
reviewed the latest science and concluded that increasing consumption to “at least 2
servings of seafood per week during pregnancy and lactation” raises omega -3 levels and
helps improve babies’ eyesight and brain development.
3. Prominent Nutritionists Urge FDA to Revise Seafood Mercury Advisory
In an open letter, two prominent nutritionists urged the US’s FDA to revise its 2004 advisory
that targeted pregnant and lactating women, citing a “consistent stream” of new studies
highlighting the health benefits of seafood consumption.
Dr. J. Thomas Brenna, Professor of Human Nutrition at Cornell University, and Dr. Michael
Crawford, Director of London Metropolitan University’s Institute of Brain Chemistry and
Human Nutrition, said the current advisory may be causing more harm than good.
The current advisory recommends pregnant, lactating women, and women who may
become pregnant to limit consumption of all fish to 12 ounces per week and warns pregnant
and lactating women, women of childbearing age, and young children to avoid eating
swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish and to limit albacore tuna consumption to 6
ounces per week due to health concerns associated with methyl mercury.
The nutritionists note that the core problem is that the benefits of seafood could not be
appropriately considered in 2004. Current science has advanced to the point where it is no
longer consistent with the 2004 recommendation and warning.
CFIA: New Director of Seafood Division in Ottawa - Terence McRae
Terence McRae has been appointed to be the new Director of CFIA’s Fish, Seafood and
Production Division replacing Mary Ann Green.
Mr. McRae has a substantive trade policy background. He was the Director of the Technical
Trade Policy Division in Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada’s Market & Industry Services
Branch. As many will recall, in recent years much of Mary Ann Green’s high profile efforts
have been in the area of addressing bilateral and multilateral seafood technical trade issues
with Russia, China, Ukraine, the EU, and Codex.
Mary Ann was scheduled to retire but instead has taken a two year assignment to be the
liaison link between CFIA and the USFDA.
Post-Graduate Certificate in Quality Management – Web-Based Program, Marine Institute
The Marine Institute will be offering the following courses in September within the Post –
graduate Certificate in Quality Management Program:
MIPG 4100M – Quality Management
MIPG 4101M – Technical Communication for Quality Management
MIPG 4104M – Quality Assurance in the Food Industry
MIPG 4105M – Introduction to Process Control
Detailed information is on the Marine Institute’s home page: www.mi.mun.ca/QM/
China Fisheries Seafood Expo, Dalian, November 2-4, 2010
Canada will have the Canada Pavilion at China Fisheries Seafood Expo. Turnkey individual
booths in the Pavilion are available.
China Fisheries Seafood Expo is the largest and most important seafood show in China.
