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How Important Is Fishing in the Atlantic Provinces?

Fishing and seafood processing contribute jobs and economic activity across Atlantic Canada, especially in rural coastal areas. Learn how the key figures differ.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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Fishing and seafood processing are a significant part of Atlantic Canada’s economy: in 2024, they accounted for an estimated 2.4% of the region’s economic output, or $2.9 billion, and supported thousands of jobs. Their importance is especially visible in rural coastal communities, where harvesting and processing activity is distributed along the shore. The figures need careful labels, though: regional output, fishery landings, aquaculture production and the broader marine economy measure different things.

How much does fishing contribute to the Atlantic economy?

The Government of Canada Job Bank estimates that fishing and seafood processing together contributed $2.9 billion, or 2.4% of Atlantic Canada’s economic output, in 2024. This is a combined sector figure: it includes seafood preparation and packaging, not just the value of fish caught. The Job Bank reports 12,200 fishing jobs and 9,900 seafood preparation and packaging jobs for the Atlantic region, based on Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey estimates. Source: Government of Canada Job Bank

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) reports a different measure: 2024 commercial fishery landings in its Atlantic category totalled 546,098 tonnes, valued at $3.627 billion. Landings are not the same as the sector’s economic output; they measure fishery products landed, rather than the combined contribution of harvesting and processing. DFO’s Atlantic fisheries region includes Quebec as well as Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, so its regional total is not a four-province figure. Source: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2024 commercial landings

How many people work in fishing and seafood processing?

The Job Bank’s 2024 estimates put Atlantic-region employment at 12,200 in fishing and 9,900 in seafood preparation and packaging. These are separate job categories, but together they help show why a sector-wide measure includes more than people working aboard fishing vessels. Processing can involve portioning, canning, smoking, freezing and packaging seafood, linking the harvest to further economic activity. Source: Government of Canada Job Bank

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Fishing-related work matters in rural areas because economic activity is spread along the provinces’ shores, according to the Job Bank. That supports describing the industry as important to many coastal communities, but it does not show how much any particular community depends on fishing or mean every coastal community has the same reliance.

What kinds of fisheries contribute most to landed value?

Shellfish dominated the value of Atlantic commercial seafisheries landings in DFO’s 2024 table. The figures below cover Atlantic Canada as defined by DFO, including Quebec, and refer to commercial seafisheries—not aquaculture.

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Category Landings, 2024 Landed value, 2024
Shellfish 376,821 tonnes $3.283 billion
Groundfish 72,436 tonnes $251.796 million
Pelagics 82,111 tonnes $87.912 million

These category totals are from DFO’s 2024 Atlantic commercial seafisheries table. DFO separately reports 86,430 tonnes of Atlantic aquaculture production, valued at $741.126 million in 2024. Aquaculture is seafood farming, so its production should not be added to wild commercial fishery landings without clearly distinguishing the two measures. Source: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 2024 aquaculture production

How does fishing’s importance differ by province?

A consistent fishing-only comparison of GDP and employment across all four Atlantic provinces is not established by the available figures. DFO’s province-by-province numbers instead measure the broader marine economy, including direct activity in marine industries, indirect supply-chain effects and induced effects from spending income generated by that activity. They show the scale of the ocean economy, but must not be read as fishing-industry totals.

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Province Total marine-economy GDP, 2024 Total marine-economy jobs, 2024
Newfoundland and Labrador $12.003 billion 42,060
Prince Edward Island $1.162 billion 11,936
Nova Scotia $10.980 billion 102,641
New Brunswick $2.598 billion 29,039

These 2024 figures include direct, indirect and induced effects. DFO notes that values may be revised and that conceptual or methodological differences can cause discrepancies. Source: Fisheries and Oceans Canada, marine economy statistics

A more recent Newfoundland and Labrador example uses a different measure and period: the provincial government reported preliminary 2025 figures, released in 2026, of $2.11 billion in combined wild fisheries and aquaculture market value, approximately 17,000 jobs and activity in more than 400 communities. Its reported market value comprises $1.66 billion for wild fisheries and $453 million for aquaculture. These are province-specific preliminary figures, not a four-province total and not directly comparable with the 2024 regional output estimate. Source: Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

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What the figures do—and do not—show

  • Fishing and processing output captures a combined economic contribution, including processing activity.
  • Landings value measures the value of commercial fishery products landed; it is not a GDP or total-sector-output figure.
  • Aquaculture production is a separate measure of farmed seafood.
  • Marine-economy totals cover a wider set of ocean-related activity and its direct, indirect and induced effects.
  • Community dependence cannot be calculated from these regional and provincial totals. They show scale and geographic reach, not fishing’s share of income in each town.

Together, the figures establish that fishing and seafood processing are economically meaningful across Atlantic Canada and have particular relevance to rural coastal areas. They do not support treating fishing as the whole marine economy or assuming every province, shore or community benefits to the same degree.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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