During the week of September 13-15, the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association (NAIA), in partnership with Coast of Bays Corporation (COBC), held their fourth bi-annual Aquaculture Showcase in the Coast of Bays area.
The intent of this event was to promote the increased growth of aquaculture in the region and build strong partnerships with industry players, local schools, government agencies and communities.
The three days consisted of networking and social events such as an open house with various career demonstrations at the Hermitage Lions Club, a meet and greet at the Elliot Premises in Harbour Breton, a NL Aqua Services on-land net washing operations tour, site visits with Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture, Cold Water Fisheries and Northern Harvest Sea Farms, a seafood banquet and an industry workshop at the Vancor Motel.
The event was organized by the showcase organizing committee: Roberta Collier of NAIA, Conrad Collier, Colleen Kelly and Cory Foster of the Coast of Bays Corporation, Gail Hoskins of the Department of Innovation Trade and Rural Development, Allison Stagg of SIMCorp Marine Environmental, Melissa Burke of Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Geraldine Willcott of CBDC South Coast.
Many of the events focused on the importance of the committed and skilled workforce, which would help address the need for recruitment as the industry grows.
On September 14th, approximately 100 guests from in and outside the province gathered at the Vancor Motel in Head of Bay d’Espoir for a seafood banquet. The evening started out with a warm welcome as Miranda Pryor, NAIA’s Executive Director welcomed everyone to their fourth bi-annual aquaculture showcase banquet and sent out a huge thank you to their partner the Coast of Bays Corporation. She continued to say that NAIA, the NAIA Board of Directors and the Coast of Bays Corporation were very pleased at the excellent turn out and overwhelming support at all of the events
MHA Tracy Perry was the guest speaker at the event and expressed how delighted she was to be attending. She spoke about the early days of when the industry began in the region and how far it has come today. She was pleased that the delegates were given this excellent opportunity to visit the region and see all the hustle and bustle created by the industry first-hand.
Perry also spoke on the ability of the industry to enable families to move home and help sustain our rural communities. She believes that the expected future growth in this industry will lead to future population increases in many rural communities that have seen a decline for many years.
“I was delighted to attend NAIA’s banquet to celebrate how far we have come in this dynamic industry and how much opportunity still exists for future growth,” stated Ms. Perry. “It’s very satisfying that all our community and industry partners are seeing the fruits of their amazing efforts. We are keeping people at home with opportunities for very lucrative careers and it’s exciting to be able to welcome and attract newcomers to our region as well.”
Conrad Collier of the COBC did a presentation outlining many of the current and future projects being completed by both NAIA and the COBC to help advance the aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays region.
This year NAIA and the organizing committee decided to do things a bit different. All proceeds from the banquet ticket sales will be donated towards NAIA’s annual scholarship contribution to an aquaculture student, in memory of Nancy Camarillo Sepulveda. Nancy, only twenty-five years of age, unexpectedly passed away in August while working on her MSc Biochemistry degree at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
For more information on the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association, please call 1-709-754-2854 or 709-538-3454 or visit their website at www.naia.ca.
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