Aquaculture Emerges as Food and Beverage Growth Driver

Canadian aquaculture is taking its momentum when food and beverage businesses are seeking local sourcing, resilience, and innovation in products.

The food and beverage sector in Canada is progressively resorting to aquaculture as a home-based solution to enhance food security and alleviate dependence on imported seafood as well as facilitate innovation. The industry advisors claim that the industry provides a scalable, made-in-Canada ingredient foundation that conforms to increasing demand in the market by consumers for traceable and locally produced products.

According to Karen Guinan, partner and business advisor of MNP, aquaculture is gaining strategic significance as a product development factor focused on resilience and wellness leaders in food and beverage product development. In MNP Insights, Guinan pointed out the possibilities of the sector that go far beyond seafood counters, such as high-protein foods or applications in further processing and also in snacks, supplements, and pet food.

In spite of the output of a massive variety of farmed salmon, mussels, oysters, and seaweed, over two-thirds of the aquaculture produced in Canada is exported. This introduces an opportunity between production and consumption of foods domestically that Guinan explains as untapped potential for the food and beverage business by way of creating new partnerships, distribution channels, and local products that are of Canadian origin.

The reason is shrinking domestic production of salmon, especially in British Columbia. Industry groups argue that they rely more on imported Chilean and Norwegian salmon, which causes supply risks and environmental carbon impact. The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance highlights that seafood farming created a $6 billion economic footprint in 2024 and provided over 18,000 jobs in the country.

Regulatory clarity and increased value-added processing would lead stakeholders to believe that aquaculture could contribute more significantly to the consolidation of the food and beverage supply chain in Canada and potentially retain greater economic power in the country.