FLATROCK, N.L. – Lillian Saul is not exactly a newcomer to the fishing industry, but at 30 she’s one of the younger captains on the water in Newfoundland and Labrador. “I’ve invested everything into this,” she said from her new home in Twillingate, on Newfoundland’s northeast coast. “The last 11 years of my life have been building up to this… I’ve basically invested my entire adult life into fishing.” Saul is part of a youth movement in an industry that has been aging rapidly. The province’s Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union estimated more than 33 per cent of certified fish harvesters in their membership are 54 or older. Thousands of those workers are expected to leave their jobs over the coming decade. It’s starting to weigh on industry players, who have launched a new program to try to lure young and new prospective fish harvesters into the fishery and into businesses like Saul’s. The Fishing Industry New Entrants Initiative, a project by the FFAW union in partnership with other fishery organizations, is backed by more than a million dollars from Newfoundland and Labrador’s provincial government. It aims to ramp up fishing industry presence at career fairs, immigration offices and schools across the province. Saul, an American, first moved to Newfoundland and Labrador to pursue a graduate degree at Memorial University, where she planned to study fisheries regulation. But while pursuing permanent residency, she says she was unable to leave Canada, and work in the fishery ultimately set her on her current path. “In Alaska, there’s so many young women in their 20s that run their own boats,” she said. “So that’s kind of where it got me thinking that that could be me.” Employment in fishing In more remote and rural areas of the province, fishing is still a big draw for young people but close to St. John’s it competes with job offers from businesses in the city. “The fishery do have a black eye from the public, unfortunately, and that’s sad,” said Chad Waterman, a 37-year-old crab harvester in Flatrock, near St. John’s. “I don’t think, still, people realize how big of an economic driver the fishery is.” Employment in the fishing industry, in both vessels and in seafood processing plants, has stagnated in Newfoundland and Labrador. Statistics Canada surveys suggest direct fish harvesting jobs in the province fell from about 4,300 in 2011 to 3,100 in 2025. Meanwhile, the value of the fishery has improved: commercial fish landings topped $1.2 billion in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2025, more than twice what they were in 2011. Waterman said the fishery could use a bit more good press like the marketing campaign the New Entrants Initiative began running in October. The boom-and-bust of the fishery can be a big struggle, Waterman admits, something that can dissuade people from entering that industry. The prices in Newfoundland and Labrador for many species can vary greatly from year to year. Still, he said, the good years outweigh the bad. While family connections and a bit of coincidence set him onto a life in the fishery, he’s not looking back. Saul said she thinks the regulatory burden on businesses in the fishing industry ought to be eased which might help bring new blood onto the waters. “Every single time you want to progress, there’s ten barriers right there in front of you,” she said. “You have to do so much stuff on the computer, it’s all very difficult.”
