ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Finance Minister Siobhan Coady didn’t mention it in the budget speech she delivered in September, but the province is floating a $5-million loan to Grieg NL, the aquaculture company that is budling a salmon hatchery and nursery at Marystown.
It was just one of two specific investments mentioned for the province’s fishing industry in a Budget Highlights document.
A spokesperson for the fisheries department told SaltWire the loan to Grieg NL is part of a larger commitment the province made to the company.
“This $5 million is the first allocation of the $30 million repayable assistance commitment to Grieg under the Aquaculture Capital Equity Program (ACEP) (which) assists with increasing the production of commercial aquaculture operations in the province,” said a media relations officer.
The budget speech did, however, note millions earmarked for the Atlantic Fisheries Fund.
That fund is a seven-year federal-provincial program that will run until 2024. The federal government provides 70 percent of the funding and each of the provincial governments in Atlantic Canada contributes 30 per cent of the funding for projects in their jurisdictions.
About $100 million was earmarked from that fund for Newfoundland and Labrador.
For 2020-21, the province has set aside $9 million for projects approved under that program.
The budget estimates for the provincial fisheries department also note $1.4 million set aside for marketing of fisheries, aquaculture and agriculture.
The media relations officer for the department confirmed for SaltWire that about half of that budget, approximately $700,000, is set aside for the province’s seafood sector.
Coady also noted, in her speech, “The fish and seafood sector continues to be a major source of employment, especially in rural areas, and directly employs more than 15,000 people in over 400 communities.”
According to the minister, the export value of the seafood sector is about $1.4 billion.
