Chinese show hooks N. S. seafood firms

Seven Nova Scotia seafood companies are taking part in the 2013 China Fisheries and Seafood Expo in Dalian, China. Nova Scotia companies participating in Asia’s largest seafood show include Clearwater Seafoods Ltd., Gidney Fisheries Ltd., Fisher King Seafoods Ltd., I. Deveau Fisheries Ltd.,Ships Lobster Pound Ltd., Top Claw Lobster & Seafood Co. and United Trans Ltd.

“We’re always looking for new customers,” said Berton German, owner of I. Deveau Fisheries Ltd., in explaining the Barrington Passage lobster company’s participation in the show, which runs from Nov. 5 to 7.

“We want to expand our business,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

German said his sons, Joel and Julian, made the trip to the show in China.

The Nova Scotia firms are part of a delegation of 26 Atlantic Canadian companies and industry associations at the show.

Regional companies will have opportunities to network with Chinese buyers and industry professionals, participate in site visits and hold business-to-business meetings.

Chef Ted Grant of the Nova Scotia Community College and chef Roger Andrews of the College of the North Atlantic in St. John’s, N.L., will provide Chinese buyers with a taste of regional lobster, crab, mussels and shrimp.

Atlantic Canada exported $2.9billion worth of seafood to global markets in 2012, with 23 per cent of that total going to Asia, according to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

Since 2011, Atlantic seafood sales to China have increased by 30 per cent and sales to Asia have increased by 16 per cent.