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Canada's aquaculture sector experienced a challenging year in 2023, with sales, production, and exports declining compared to 2022, according to data released in recent days by Canadian national statistical office, Statistics Canada.
Nationally, aquaculture sales fell by 4.7% to CAD $1.3 billion, however large regional differences were observed, highlighting a year of mixed performance across regions and categories.
The Statistics Canada data shows that national farmed finfish production dropped 15.7% to 107,144 tonnes in 2023. While the average price of farmed finfish increased 9.7% to CAD $10.52 per kilogram, the total value decreased 7.5% to CAD $1.1 billion.
British Columbia’s aquaculture industry, long a dominant force in the country, saw the most significant declines in 2023. Sales in the province dropped by 35.9%, and farmed finfish production fell by 41.4%.
For the first time since 1991, British Columbia accounted for less than half (47.9%) of Canada’s national finfish production. And, despite a modest 0.7% increase in the average price of farmed finfish to CAD $10.18 per kilogram, the province’s lower output weighed heavily on the national figures.
Conversely, the Atlantic provinces saw a strong recovery in finfish production, with a 52.4% increase from 2022. Leading the growth were New Brunswick (+137.5%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (+90.1%), where production rebounded from previous environmental and biological challenges. Farmed finfish values in the Atlantic provinces reached record highs as the average price jumped by 25.8%.
Similarly, farmed shellfish production declined by 4.5% to 38,699 tonnes. Prince Edward Island, the largest producer of farmed shellfish in Canada, saw production fall by 4.8% to 20,684 tonnes in 2023, and mussel production in the province also decreased by 10.9% to 15,543 tonnes. Meanwhile, in British Columbia, oyster production also declined by 11.8% to 7,371 tonnes.
However, a 5.7% rise in the average price to CAD $3.27 per kilogram helped edge the total value of Canadian farmed shellfish up by 1.0% to reach CAD $126.5 million in 2023.
Exports of Canadian farmed Atlantic salmon, which dominate the aquaculture export market, fell sharply in 2023, the Statistics Canada figures show.
Export volumes of salmon decreased by 18.0% to 64,469 tonnes, leading to a 16.8% decline in export sales to CAD $810.6 million. The United States remained the primary market, accounting for 98.6% of total exports. Despite the decline in volume, the average export price rose slightly by 1.5% to CAD $12.57 per kilogram.
Mussel exports also faced volume challenges, with a 10.3% decrease to 11,296 tonnes in 2023. However, an 11.8% increase in the average price allowed total export values to inch up by 0.3% to CAD $49.3 million.
