The businessman behind a planned massive aquaculture project in Marystown says recruitment challenges highlight the need for better immigration policies in the province.

Paul Antle is partnered with a Norwegian investment group on Marbase Marystown, an aquaculture industry service hub.

The project has great potential to create jobs, Antle says — but the hard part will be finding people for them.

"It's one thing to create the jobs, it's another thing to fill the jobs," he said.

High unemployment

"So yes, it is a challenge. That's why immigration is so important for this province. We do have a high unemployment rate, and many of the people that are unemployed in this province can look at these opportunities."

Some people may have to relocate or commute, said Antle, but there will be jobs available in the sector in Marystown and the Burin Peninsula for people already residing in the province.

"When we go beyond that, I don't think we have enough, and our economy can't sustain the drag on the human resource base that we have. We need more people," he said.

List of 200 people

"To grow the economy, you need more people. So in order to do that, we're going to have to rely on immigration strategies and recruitment strategies from other jurisdictions in Canada and outside Canada to get the people that we need to grow the sector, and it's simple as that."

Antle said there is an initial list of about 200 people interested in working at Marbase.

"That's mainly from the union movement," he said. "Those people will be the first to have an opportunity to come and work at Marbase. But beyond that, we have to compete for people like every other supplier and every other farmer from the general population."

With the way the industry is growing, he said, the available resource pool will be exhausted quickly.

"When you hear the numbers that are being bounced around, whether it's 80 people for this and 500 for that and so on, it doesn't take long before the available workforce is captured. So you're going to have to look outside."

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