Fact File: Canada as a Maritime Nation

CANADA AS A MARITIME NATION

Geographic Dimensions

• The longest coastline of any nation in the world – 240,000 km
• An exclusive economic zone of almost 8,000,000 km² – six times larger than the combined landmass of the UK, France and Germany.
• Second largest continental shelf area in the world –
  6,500,000 km²
• Seven million Canadians live in coastal areas

Economic Dimensions

• 11,000 companies operate in the ocean sector
• Ocean industries directly employ nearly 145,000
  Canadians and generate $19 billion of economic output
• 50% of Canada’s frontier oil reserves are estimated to lie in
  Canada’s offshore, with the Hibernia oilfield alone estimated
  at over 750 million barrels of recoverable oil and 3.5 trillion
  feet of natural gas
• Canada’s ocean fisheries generate over $4 Billion of export
  income annually
• Canada’s ocean areas are important to Canada’s tourism
  industries, with over 1,500,000 cruise ship passengers visiting
  Canadian ports each year
• Exports account for over 40% of Canada’s $977 billion Gross
  Domestic Product
• Ships bear 20% of Canada’s trade with the USA
• In trade with countries other than the USA, 97% of Canadian
  exports and 70% of our imports are moved across ocean
  trade routes
• Canada’s 546 ports handle over 390 million tonnes of cargo
  each year, and serve as Canada’s gateway to more than 100
  economies across the world.

Strategic Dimensions

• Responsible, through alliance commitments for the defence of
  ocean areas approaching 12,000,000 km²
• Canada shares a land border with only one other country,
  making the oceans Canada’s first line of defence