Exploring opportunities for new fishery-tourism products, business, collaboration and fisheries market development within the Bonne Bay area of Newfoundland

There are currently many challenges facing Newfoundland’s inshore fishery including low prices and low landings for many key species. A sustainable fishery is an essential but undervalued element of the tourism experience in the Gros Morne/Bonne Bay area, as well as being important to the longer-term sustainability of local communities. At a recent Fisheries/Tourism Forum we explored a range of opportunities to enhance the potential economic synergies between fisheries and tourism in this region. The proposed research internship is one piece of a larger, multi-pronged strategy to establish the foundations for improved economic opportunities for local fish harvesters, tourism operators and other local businesses based on closer ties between the fisheries and tourism businesses and on increased regional consumption of sea food, including among local people. Our main objective will be to work with businesses and fishing enterprises in the Bonne Bay area to document how sea food is currently integrated with tourism and in the local consumption patterns and to identify ways to enhance this integration and broaden the options for viable collaborative business opportunities for fish harvesters, processors, and tourism providers in the future.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Barbara Neis

Student:

Kristen Lowitt

Partner:

Rural Secretariat

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Finance, insurance and business

University:

Memorial University of Newfoundland