After Newfoundland and Labrador joined confederation it remained the main industry in this province, even after the creation of Churchill Falls in Labrador, the world’s largest hydroelectric plant. Following the collapse of the fishery and the moratorium in 1992, there was pressure to fill the demand for cod. The aquaculture industry was already a major industry in other provinces in Canada with British Columbia beginning shellfish farming as early as the 1920s, while Newfoundland and Labrador incorporated aquaculture in early 2000s to help fill the codfish demand. Aquaculture is farming on the water instead of on the land” and includes a variety of fish, shellfish and aquatic plants (NAIA online, 2013).

​

       Aquaculture is a conservation issue as the farms can have negative impacts on both the environment through pollution and habitat degradation as well as a negative impact on native fish species who can catch diseases easily from the farmed fish or produce unsuitable offspring if they mate with farmed fish. ​