New processing plant planned for Nova Scotia
Almost four years ago a fish processing plant built specifically to service the British Columbia aquaculture industry had to close its doors due to the lack of industry growth opportunities. Other plants in the Province had invested in modern equipment and technology, resulting in more efficient processing and increased capacity, leaving Englewood Processing with not enough business to remain viable. On Canada’s east coast however, government support for the continued expansion of salmon farming has created the need for additional infrastructure such as this new plant, as described by Quentin Casey of The Telegraph-Journal;
The plant, which will be capable of processing 40 million pounds of salmon a year, is expected to be up and running within two years, said company spokesman Chuck Brown on Wednesday. But first the Blacks Harbour-based fish grower must boost its production in Nova Scotia. The company currently operates nine salmon-focused fish farms in the province, and has filed applications for four additional farms in the Shelburne and Digby areas. The new Digby farms could house fish by the spring, Brown said, noting the new Shelburne farms would likely follow in spring 2012.
With added salmon production, the company can justify the construction of a multimillion-dollar processing plant. "That's critical ... As long as those pieces all fall into place, then the rest of our expansion plans can follow quickly behind," Brown said in an interview, adding that the exact location and cost of the Shelburne plant are still being discussed. "We want to do more in southwest Nova Scotia and we've been looking for the best place to do our processing there. Ultimately we've decided that Shelburne County makes the most sense."
Based in Blacks Harbour, Cooke Aquaculture currently operates Nova Scotia fish farms in Digby, Shelburne, Brier Island and St. Margaret's Bay outside of Halifax. But without a Nova Scotia processing site, all of the fish grown in the Bluenose province must be shipped to New Brunswick for processing in Charlotte County. According to Brown, Shelburne was chosen to house the new plant because of its water supply, available workforce and traditional connection to the fishery. Plus, the Shelburne area is already home to four Cooke fish farms, which produce approximately a million fish a year.
In all, the new processing plant is expected to bring 359 new jobs to Shelburne. "It's probably one of the biggest projects we've ever seen," said Kirk Cox, the chief administrative officer with the Municipality of Shelburne. Cox predicts the plant will generate up to 1,000 jobs when indirect and spinoff employment is factored in. "Adding 1,000 jobs to our area of the province - after the challenges we've had over the last couple years - is more than good news. It's going to have a real transformational impact on the community," he said, noting various closures and two lacklustre lobster seasons have hurt the area recently. "It's been a pretty consistent downward cycle in terms of employment for us. So hopefully with this project we can turn that around."
Cooke's Nova Scotia expansion plan also calls for a corporate office in Shelburne County and a fish hatchery in the Digby area.
