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Economic and Rural Development

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Study Confirms Fishery Remains Leading Employer in Nova Scotia

April 13, 2005


NOTE TO EDITORS: Following is a feature release outlining
findings in The Economic Value of the Nova Scotia Ocean Sector, a
study prepared by Gardner Pinfold Consulting Economists, as they
relate to the fisheries.

A new study ranks Nova Scotia's fishery as the leading employer
among industries that make their livelihood from the sea.

Nova Scotia's ocean sector had an overall $4-billion impact on
the province's economy as measured in gross domestic product
(GDP) in 2001. The contribution of fish harvesting and processing
to that figure has risen gradually over the past decade, to $986
million in 2001.

The figures are contained in The Economic Value of the Nova
Scotia Ocean Sector, a study prepared by Gardner Pinfold
Consulting Economists for the federal and provincial governments
and the Nova Scotia Fisheries Sector Council. The study covers
the period 1996-2001 and was released Monday, April 11.

By 2001, the importance of fish harvesting by the province's
5,450 vessels to the Nova Scotia economy had risen to about $361
million, from $214 million in 1996. Household income from
harvesting rose from $128 million to almost $185 million during
the same period. The study's authors determined that, with
stability in the number of harvesters at around 7,500, average
incomes rose from about $17,000 to about $25,000 per year.

When you include spin-off activity, which occurs primarily in
Nova Scotia's rural communities, the fishing industry generated
about $672 million in household income, or 31.3 per cent of the
province's ocean-sector total.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Nova Scotia's Office of
Economic Development, and numerous other departments will be
using the results of the study to help make decisions about
future policy directions relating to Nova Scotia's ocean
industries.

"I am pleased to see the fishing industry growing in new areas so
that fisheries will remain an important component of the Nova
Scotia economy, employing literally thousands of people," said
Economic Development Minister Ernest Fage.

The study identified a positive economic upswing in sectors like
shellfish harvesting, which includes lobster, scallop snow crab
and shrimp. Among the other encouraging trends noted by the
study, fisheries continues to be the province's leading source of
export earnings.

The importance of the fishing industry (including processing) to
Nova Scotia is clear: it leads all other sectors in employment
and ranks second to National Defence in income impact, according
to the study's authors.

The authors found that better conditions in the fishery followed
the collapse of the groundfishery and lower earnings of the
1990s. By 2000, the shift was being made from haddock and cod,
they said, and vessel owners began responding to improved
shellfish landings and better markets by replacing vessels and
investing in additional ones.

The study is available on the website at
www.gov.ns.ca/econ/publications/oceanresources .

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For more information, please contact:

Meddy Stanton
Economic Development
902-424-5836
E-mail: stantonm@gov.ns.ca

DFO Communications
Maritimes Region
902-426-3550
E-mail: mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca