Fishing and Seafood Processing  

The fishing and fish processing industry is comprised of two highly integrated activities: commercial fishing and seafood product preparation and packaging. The latter typically involves the addition of some value to seafood products through processes like portioning, canning, smoking, freezing and packaging.

The fishing and fish processing industry comprised 2.4% of Atlantic Canada’s total economic output in 2024, at $2.9 billion. The industry is a cornerstone of the region’s economy and culture, deeply intertwined with its history and heritage. The region is renowned for its rich marine resources, including lobster, snow crab, molluscs (i.e. mussels and oysters), as well as other fish species.

​ The industry’s two subsectors: fishing; and seafood product preparation and packaging, employed 12,200 and 9,900 people in Atlantic Canada in 2024, respectively.

Geographical Distribution of Employment

Nova Scotia (NS) has the highest level of employment in the fishing and fish processing industry in Atlantic Canada, with 10,200 jobs in 2024 (which made up 2.0% of the province’s total employment that year). Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and New Brunswick (NB) employed 5,600 and 3,400 workers in the industry, comprising 2.3% and 0.9% of their employed workforces, respectively. Although Prince Edward Island (PEI) maintains the fewest jobs in the sector in the region, the industry has the largest share of provincial employment at 3.1%, compared to the other provinces.

In Atlantic Canada, the industry has particular importance in rural areas as economic activity is spread along the shores of the provinces.

TABLE 1. Employment by Province or Economic Region

Workforce Characteristics

The fishing and fish processing industry in Atlantic Canada is male-dominated, with nearly three-quarters of its workforce comprised of males in 2024. In comparison, the distribution across all industries in the region is 50.9% male and 49.1% female. Employment in the sector has a disproportionate number of older workers, with 37.8% of its job holders aged 55 and over compared to 23.2% in all industries.​

Most workers in the sector are employed full-time, however, permanent employment is not as common as most other industries due to the seasonal nature of the industry. Part-time employment makes up 6.4% of the jobs in the industry, compared to 16.0% across the region’s entire workforce. In 2024, about 77% of workers were categorized as employees (which includes both permanent and temporary employees (i.e. seasonal workers)); and the remaining 22.8% were categorized as self-employed.​

Jobs in this sector do not tend to have high educational attainment. In 2024, 23.7% of workers in the sector had not completed high school, compared to 7.0% across all industries. Only 8.9% of jobs in the industry were held by people with university degrees compared to 31.5% for all industries. ​

Main Occupations

The two most common occupations in Atlantic Canada’s fishing and fish processing industry belong to the fishing subsector, being fishermen/fisherwomen and fishing vessel deckhands. Fishermen/women operate fishing vessels (less than 100 gross tonnes) to pursue and land fish and other marine life. They are usually self-employed owner-operators of fishing vessels. Fishing vessel deckhands perform a variety of manual tasks on commercial fishing voyages, and maintain fishing vessels.

​ The largest seafood product preparation and packaging occupation is labourers in fish and seafood processing. Workers in this occupation are employed in processing and packaging plants and perform packaging, material handling and other elemental activities related to fish and seafood processing.

TABLE 2. Top Five Occupations

The fishing and fish processing industry in Atlantic Canada is driven largely by the export market, which plummeted during the pandemic year of 2020. Exports rebounded by 2021, during which time international demand for lobster surged, which pushed up prices. China was the main source of the increased appetite for Atlantic lobster.

Lobster and crab, respectively, are the region’s two most valuable species. The snow crab market experienced plunging prices in 2022 (by 60%), as a result of lower US consumer demand due largely to inflation pressures. The excess inventories put downward pressure on prices before having stabilized somewhat by 2023. Similarly, Atlantic lobster prices also declined in 2022 (by 30%) and have remained well below peak prices since.

Exports of fishing and fish processing products from Atlantic Canada have grown from $3 billion in 2014 to $5.6 billion in 2024. Significant growth in the sector’s shipments to the US and China are the most prominent cause of the rise over the last decade. Global shipments (by value) peaked to historical highs in 2021, at $5.8 billion.

Employment in the fishing and fish processing industry is highly seasonal and subject to heavily regulated fishing seasons. Employment spikes in the industry coincide with the lobster fishing seasons, which are staggered across the region’s many fishing areas (i.e. peaking in the spring (April to June period) and again, later in the fall.

The industry’s employment level hit a 10-year low in 2023 following a record high set in 2021. The decline is attributed to several factors, such as falling international demand for products like lobster. With the rising cost of food in recent years, some consumers are forgoing a luxury product like lobster in favour of cheaper protein options at the grocery store. Automation and technological advances have also improved efficiency for some unskilled labour positions, a necessary measure to help with the gap of people available to work these jobs. Indeed, the industry continues to struggle with attracting and retaining workers, particularly for labour intensive jobs in processing plants, resulting in unfilled job vacancies. With a limited labour pool, many employers continue to rely on the temporary foreign worker program to help fill vacancies. In 2024, employment levels in the industry slightly improved, up by 5.2% on a year-over-year basis.