Government has taken positive steps towards expanding the fish processing sector, ensuring fish products landed in Labrador are processed in Labrador, thereby maximizing benefits to people in the region.

• The province, through the FRAM-ED federal-provincial cost-shared agreement, helped provide about $300,000 to improve the water supply to the Black Tickle plant. This enabled a private company to turn the former groundfish plant into a modern crab processing facility.

• The initiative has created about 40 new jobs.

• Government's decision to issue a crab processing licence was the key to reopening the plant.

• About $2.3 million has been provided under a federal-provincial agreement to improve the water supply at Charlottetown. This will allow a new shrimp plant to open in the community.

• The plant expects to employ about 120 workers.

• Government sold the MV Nain Banker to the Labrador Fishermen's Union Shrimp Company in 1999 at a special price, enabling the company to harvest about one million pounds of turbot for processing at the plant in L'Anse au Loup. Accessing raw material for the plant would be extremely difficult without this vessel.