Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. (KCS), part of the Cooke Group of companies, has received a Certification of Determination to Proceed from the New Brunswick Ministry of Environment and Local Government, which allows it to move forward with the construction of the $72 million post-smolt Atlantic salmon aquaculture facility in Bayside (New Brunswick, Canada)
The KSC project began planning in 2017, although it has only received environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval this year. In this permit, the company wanted to get the green light for the initial move: the subway wells that will supply water to the facility.
The KSC facility is located in the Champlain Industrial Park, adjacent to Passamaquoddy Bay, and will operate using a world-class recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Further, from the details known so far, there would be two water pipeline corridors and a marine loading facility.
Joel Richardson, Vice President of Public Relations for Cooke explained that technological innovations bring new opportunities for production. "Hybrid systems, involving a mix of land and marine-based fish farming will continue to be part of our future."
Moreover, this post-smolt facility is just one of the projects Cooke is working on in Charlotte County (Canada). Earlier this year, another of Cooke's investments, the new $21 million Pennfield freshwater hatchery, started operations. The company has also just completed a $50 million expansion of its St. George's salmon processing plant.
These investments are due to the New Brunswick Finfish Aquaculture Growth Strategy 2022-2030 launched by Minister of Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fisheries Margaret Johnson in March of last year. Through this plan, responsible development of the province's finfish aquaculture sector was sought, with a focus on land-based production through the application of new technological advances.
The project is expected to last three years and create more than 340 direct construction jobs and 222 indirect jobs.
Cooke Aquaculture is a family of businesses that have operated a sustainable aquaculture business in Atlantic Canada for over 35 years. This company includes international divisions for aquaculture, such as its wholly-owned subsidiary Cooke Aquaculture Inc. and Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. Moreover, the work on seafood and wild fishery divisions under Cooke Seafood USA, Inc. and Wanchese Fish Company, Inc., among others.
