About Us

A national voice for the people who fish.

The Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters’ Federation is the national advocacy voice for the people who harvest most of Canada’s plentiful and valuable seafood.

We are the people who produce most of Canada’s lobster, crab, wild salmon, shrimp, and groundfish. Our seafood landings put Canada among the top fishing nations in the world and make us the single largest private sector employer in most coastal communities.

We represent a big business in very small places.

We are more than 14,000 licenced small business owners.
We generate more than $1.4 billion in landed value and billions more in exports.
We provide 30,000 more direct jobs for crew members
Thousands more indirect jobs in boat construction, gear supply and maintenance services, fish processing, handling, transportation and marketing in our communities and beyond

A proud past and a bright future.

We are deeply rooted in Canada’s history and coastal communities where fishing is a way of life and often a family undertaking.

Our fishing enterprises are mostly located in Canada’s small coastal communities where the hundreds of millions of dollars in landed value we generate is spent. Our small fishing businesses buy in our communities, hire in our communities and support them in numerous other ways creating diverse local economies and healthy places to live.

Governance

The triannual Convention

The supreme governing body of the Federation is the Constitutional Convention of all the members which is held every three years. The next Convention is will be held by December 2016, the third anniversary of the Federation’s founding.

The Board of Directors

In between meetings of the Constitutional Convention the Federation is governed by a Board of Directors made up of three representatives -or their alternates- per province elected for three year mandates by the provincial caucuses of the Federation.

The Executive Committee

Between meetings of the Board of Directors the operational business of the Federation is overseen by the officers of the Federation which make up the Executive Committee elected from amongst the Board of Directors. The officers are the President, First Vice-president, Secretary and Treasurer and additional Vice-presidents elected from any provinces not represented in the aforementioned positions.