New website launched to promote Atlantic seafood

There’s more than one way to cook a codfish.

Grab a pot. Throw in a can of stewed tomatoes along with diced carrots and zucchini. Add basil, parsley or cilantro and a dash of white wine, and bring it to a simmer with your filets of cod for tomato cod soup.

That’s just one of the recipes featured on a new website, http://seafoodfromcanada.ca, launched this week to promote Canadian seafood.

All four Atlantic provinces teamed up to create the website and promote the region’s seafood export markets. Funding for the project came from the Government of Canada

as well as the provinces, according to a press release from Taste of Nova Scotia, the group managing the website project.

“The new Seafood from Canada website will help connect Canadian seafood suppliers with buyers in key export markets worldwide,” said the Taste of Nova Scotia, noting that seafood from the East Coast is already sold in more than 130 countries.

The new website has three main features: a company directory listing more than 300 Canadian seafood exporters; information on each species available for export, as well as recipes and industry news; and a calendar of events noting international export activities to help connect exporters to buyers.

The website was designed by St. John’s-based digital agency WaterWerks. A committee of representatives from each of the Atlantic provinces collaborated to develop the new brand and website.

Meanwhile, as the COVID19 pandemic arrived in Canada in 2020 and traditional markets for seafood were slowing, the federal government urged Canadians to support the fishing and farming industry by buying Canadian food products.

According to statistics collected last year by the research firm IPSOS 5, the average Canadian is eating seafood about five times a month.

In a virtual conference hosted by the Fisheries Council of Canada, Jo-Ann McArthur, CEO of Nourish Marketing, said seafood consumption by Canadians has been flat since about 2016, and the most frequent purchasers are baby boomers, the 55-plus age group.

McArthur said to grow the domestic market, producers must focus on the millennials, and serve up ready-to-eat products.

Funding for seafood marketing projects like the Seafood From Canada project comes from the Canadian Fish and Seafood Opportunities Fund, a program that was announced in 2018.

According to a news release from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans at the time, the program was budgeted at just over $42 million, with Ottawa providing 70 per cent of the funding and the provinces picking up the tab for the other 30 per cent.

The funding was earmarked for not-for-profit industry organizations operating on a national or sector-wide basis, according to DFO.

This is not the first time the Atlantic provinces’ seafood industry has collaborated on seafood marketing.

In 2003, the Atlantic Canada Exports (ACE) website was created for the Atlantic Canada Seafood Sector Export Team as a marketing tool.

“Initially the provinces used that site branding and design in their promotional material and at trade shows to create a cohesive brand for Atlantic Canada,” according to the Seafood From Canada press release. “However, since then, the provinces changed their strategy for promoting Atlantic Canada internationally.

The ACE brand was retired in favour of Canada Brand imagery and messaging, but there was no consistent brand and story that could be used in various international markets.”