One of Canada's oldest exports has been fish, much of which has come from the Grand Banks fishing grounds off the coast of Newfoundland. These rich fishing grounds were used extensively by English, French, Spanish and Irish fishermen long before Canada was settled by Europeans [1]. These fishermen would migrate to the Grand Banks annually to fish and salt their catch, often returning to Europe without ever stepping on land. However, as the market for dried cod [2] grew drying operations were established on the Canadian coast in the summer and were abandoned in the winter. Today, the Grand Banks fall within Canada's 200 nautical mile [3] jurisdictional boundary.
Currently, the importance of fish as an export commodity is low. Modern fishing methods [4] and environmental upheavals have reduced many fish species to near depletion. In response, the Canadian Government has severely limited the harvest of many species and has put an outright ban [5] on commercial fishing of others (e.g., cod, salmon). In addition, the government has increased surveillance of its jurisdictional boundary to ensure foreign fleets are not fishing in Canadian waters; a Spanish ship was recently detained and the crew arrested for fishing near Canada's 200 nautical mile limit. The collapse of the east [6] (cod) and west (salmon) coast fisheries is a perfect example of the "tragedy of the commons". Each user (nations and their fishing fleets) has tried to take more fish out of the sea than their competitors, disregarding the sustainable biological reproduction limits of the natural resource.
Although the traditional fishing sector has had its problems, it has not completely disappeared from Canada's economy. Instead, the sector has moved from harvesting the natural environment to commercial aquaculture [7] (fish pond/cage) operations. Aquaculture harvests were 387,000 tonnes in 1997; the traditional Atlantic and Pacific catch combined was 947,000 tonnes. Most of the fish raised are salmon followed closely by trout. Most of the salmon aquaculture occurs in British Columbia [8] and Nova Scotia [9], while trout tends to be raised in fresh water ponds in the prairies. Overall, Canada's fish exports (traditional and aquaculture) had a value of $3.4 billion in 1998, which was twice as high as its imports [10]. Subsequently, fish is still an important resource [11] in the Canadian economy.
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