Seafood e-Bulletin

August 2025

The source of program information, engagement opportunities, important updates, and upcoming events for seafood producers and processors in British Columbia

This August newsletter includes:

Programs and Funding Opportunities

• Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program
• BC Agriculture and Food Export Program
• Business Advisory Services
• Become a Buy BC member

New Resources

• Seafood Expo Global 2025
• The Retail Seafood Market in Europe and Opportunities for Canadian Products
• The Fish and Seafood Ecosystem in Mexico

Events

• Webinar: How Natural Resource Sectors Are Measuring Impact to Ensure More Responsible and Equitable Practices

Updates:

• BC Food and Beverage "State of the Industry Report" Survey
• Premier's Task Force: Water Recommendations
• Ease of Doing Business in B.C.
• Global Seafood Alliance - Salmon Farm Standard Issue 3.0

Reminder:

• Update Your Contact Information

Rural Economic Development and Infrastructure Program

Program Details

The Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP) is an annual grant funding program administered by the Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth (JEG). REDIP supports rural communities throughout British Columbia to develop economic opportunities with a particular focus on three key areas:

• Economic diversification
• Economic capacity building
• Economic infrastructure development

In fiscal year (FY) 2025-26 the REDIP program is focused on strategic investments to support the most critical economic development opportunities in rural communities. The program team strongly recommends that all prospective applicants meet with program staff or a member of the Regional Economic Operations Branch to discuss their project prior to submitting an application.

BC Agriculture and Food Export Program

Program Details

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food is launching a fall intake of the BC Agriculture and Food Export (BCAFE) Program, designed to help B.C.-based agriculture, food, beverage, and seafood exporters grow sales and reduce market risk.

The program offers cost-shared funding for export market development activities outside British Columbia, helping businesses and industry associations maintain, expand, or diversify their global reach.

Eligible activities include:

• Export-focused tradeshows, food fairs, and sales exhibitions
• Consumer promotional events
• Marketing collateral, advertising, and social media campaigns

 Project eligibility period: September 2025 – March 2026

Business Advisory Services

The Province of B.C. is now offering free business advisory services.

Business advisory services include:

• Free one-on-one consultations with expert advisors
• Access to resources designed to help businesses start, grow and thrive
• Guidance on navigating government programs and funding opportunities

Become a Buy BC member

Calling all producers, processors, retailers, farmers’ markets, and industry associations. Apply to get the Buy BC logo and add it to your packaging and marketing materials—for free.

Buy BC members are also eligible for the Buy BC Partnership Program.

The Buy BC Partnership Program is a fundamental component of Buy BC that provides up to $2 million in cost-shared funding annually to local producers, processors, and associations to support their ability to undertake local marketing activities that increase consumer awareness and sales of B.C. agriculture, food and beverage products.

Seafood Expo Global 2025

Trade Show Report Available: Seafood Expo Global 2025

The BC government hosted a booth within the Canadian pavilion at Seafood Expo Global, held May 6 – 8, 2025 in Barcelona, Spain. With strong buyer interest in BC salmon and Manila clams, and over $100M in projected sales, the show reinforced Europe’s appetite for sustainable, high-quality Canadian seafood. The report highlights key opportunities, market insights, and recommendations to support B.C. companies’ expansion into European markets.

To receive a copy of the report, email Jennifer Walsh, Manager of International Market Development and Trade, at jennifer.walsh@gov.bc.ca.

The Fish and Seafood Ecosystem in Mexico

Market Report Available: The Fish and Seafood Ecosystem in Mexico

The Trade Commissioner Service has released a comprehensive report detailing Mexico’s $10 billion seafood market, which is projected to grow 6% annually. With rising demand for frozen, processed, and premium seafood products, including salmon, crab, and halibut, B.C. exporters have a strong opportunity to expand in this dynamic market. Mexico’s retail and foodservice sectors are increasingly seeking sustainable, high-quality imports, and Canada’s tariff-free access and reputation for safe products offer a competitive edge.

To receive a copy of the report, email Jennifer Walsh, Manager of International Market Development and Trade, at jennifer.walsh@gov.bc.ca.

The Retail Seafood Market in Europe and Opportunities for Canadian Products

A new report commissioned by B.C. and the Atlantic Provinces, in partnership with the Mission of Canada to the EU, shares useful insights into Europe’s changing seafood retail market. European buyers are looking for more processed, pre-packed, and easy-to-prepare seafood—especially frozen fillets and sustainable options. This creates strong opportunities for Canadian products like Pacific salmon, black cod, and hake. The report also includes practical tips for entering the EU27 market, such as packaging ideas, how to position your products, and ways to connect with buyers.

Webinar: How Natural Resource Sectors are Measuring Impact to Ensure More Responsible and Equitable Practices

Description:

Voluntary sustainability systems play a vital role in promoting equity across value chains in seafood and other sectors. Many are evolving their data and monitoring practices to better support stakeholders at risk of exclusion or harm. In this webinar, ISEAL will share lessons learned for strengthening monitoring approaches to ensure sustainability systems are having their intended impact. These learnings are relevant for businesses, governments, and civil society organizations aiming to support more just and equitable markets.

Date: Friday, August 27, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET or 11:00 AM -12:00 PT

BC Food and Beverage

"State of the Industry Report" Survey

BC Food and Beverage (BCFB) has engaged a group of industry consultants to conduct a project to assess the current state of the BC food and beverage industry, referred to as the "State of the Industry Report." To support this report, we are seeking your perspectives on:

• The historical and current performance of your BC food and beverage manufacturing operations, particularly from the perspectives of sales, costs, and profitability.
• Suggestions on potential actions that can be taken to enhance the overall competitiveness of the BC food and beverage industry.

Your participation in this survey will help with:

• Documenting and shedding light on the current state of the BC food and beverage industry, including the key challenges it faces.
• Developing actionable recommendations for government to enhance the competitiveness of the BC food and beverage industry.

Your participation in this survey is critical. Completing it helps ensure that the concerns and realities of our industry are reflected in government discussions and decisions that affect your operations. The survey findings will inform a report that serves as a key tool for communicating industry needs directly to government. BCFB will use the results to support its advocacy efforts and represent the interests of the BC food and beverage industry.

Premier's Task Force: Water Reccomendations

The The Premier’s Task Force on Agriculture and Food Economy is actively working on key recommendations to strengthen B.C.’s agriculture and food economy. Stay tuned for updates on competitiveness, labour, land and investment as the Task Force progresses in its work. 

Water Recommendations:

• Prioritize a province-wide effort to slow and hold water by building water storage at both on-farm and larger community-scales, including both conventional dugouts, dams and reservoirs, as well as nature-based solutions that slow and store water (such as Beaver Dam Analogues and aquifer recharge) in both WLRS permitting and AF funding programs.

• Streamline requirements under the Dam Safety Regulation for lower-risk agricultural and environmental flow dams, dugouts and reservoirs and explore options to streamline permits for water infrastructure projects.

• Develop clearer pathways to securing public and private low interest financing for community-scale agricultural water infrastructure projects (e.g., community and cooperative investment vehicles, infrastructure bonds, public-private partnerships, and federal investment).

• Clear the backlog of existing use groundwater applications that were submitted prior to the 2022 deadline by automatically converting all existing use applications to authorizations without further review. For users that did not submit before the 2022 deadline, government should streamline applications for new groundwater use, with low volume users automatically issued authorizations at a threshold at or higher than domestic users.

• Incentivize participation in groundwater licensing. The members recommended that government explore options that would require possession of a water licence for eligibility for government programs (e.g. grants, risk management, farm classification).

• Ensure that farmers and ranchers have a seat at the table in watershed planning. The Task Force emphasized the importance for the agriculture sector to foster stronger relationships with First Nations, local government and other water users, and to participate in governance forums in a way that supports collaboration on creative and enduring solutions to water scarcity. To ensure that planning processes are successful, government should resource community-level watershed planning processes with the right technical capacity and a streamlined toolkit that helps accelerate progress to unlock community-led solutions.

• Identify opportunities to proactively set aside water for potential agricultural water infrastructure projects through agricultural water reserves and Water Sustainability Plans, which links watershed planning directly to building water storage.

• Develop provincial guidelines that require local governments to play a leadership role in regional planning and infrastructure for agricultural water security and ensuring other development decisions do not adversely impact long-term agricultural water security.

Your Input Needed - Ease of Doing Business in B.C.

Do you have some challenges and ideas for solutions on how we can make it simpler to do business in B.C.? The Province wants to hear from entrepreneurs, business owners and leaders in the business community to understand the barriers and improve competitiveness. Share your thoughts here:   Ease of Doing Business website

Global Seafood Alliance Releases Salmon Farm Standard Issue 3.0

Global Seafood Alliance (GSA) is pleased to announce the official release of its Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) Salmon Farm Standard (SFS) Issue 3.0. The standard will become effective on August 5, 2026, at which point all salmon farms must apply to Issue 3.0.

Updates have been made to make the standard more robust, including strengthened human rights requirements, stronger requirements for protection of predator species and stricter requirements for humane slaughter methods. This standard will also transition all salmon farms to a mandatory two-day audit duration.

Update Your Contact Information

Moving or changing your phone number? Be sure to update any contact information for your aquaculture files by emailing Aquaculture.Program@gov.bc.ca with your file number and any updated contact information. 

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