Nova Scotia fish exporters not intimidated by Trump's anti-free trade talk

The fishing industry is used to dealing with crises, whether it's collapsing fish stocks, low catch prices or the effects of climate change.

Butclouds of another kind may begathering on the horizon. Donald Trump,president-elect of the United States, lashed out at trade agreements during the election campaign, and even pledged torip up the North American Free Trade Agreement if it wasn't renegotiated.

Even so, that doesn't faze some people in Nova Scotia's fishing industry despite the fact that in 2015 the provinceexported $960 million worth of seafood to the U.S, according to provincial government.

"He's not going to tear that up. He's mostly all talk," said Dannie Hanson,vice-president of sustainability for Louisbourg Seafoods in Cape Breton."His bark is worse than his bite."

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"Thirty-five states their biggest trader is Canada," he said.

"They're all in the government there and they're not just going to let that man destroy us or anybody else."

'Things will settle down'

Louisbourg Seafoods has a lot on the line when it comes to changes to free trade. The company exports about 85 per cent of its crab, lobster and groundfish to the U.S., worth about $50 million.

Hanson expects Trump may try and alter some free-trade agreements rather than discard them, but he said that could end up benefitingCanada.

"I believe people are very scared and over the next number of days or weeks things will settle down and he's just another president. Yes he's going to make changes, but you know maybe that's OK."

'Those people need that fish'

Yarmouth Bar Fisheries Ltd. also does a lot of business with the U.S., and ships about 60 per cent of its product south.

"I don't know how it's going to affect us, I can't see it being too drastic of a change," said KennyMacKay, the company's sales manager.

"The seafood industry does ship a lot of fish to the Boston area and New York and all over the place. Those people need that fish. They can't make it too expensive for us to do it or their economy will hurt too."

MacKay said people may be judging Trump too harshly, since he hasn't taken office yet or actually crafted any government policies.

"Everybody's going on about him, about Trump, but you got to give a guy a chance to see what he does," said MacKay.