Cermaq chief encouraged by 'change in mindset' in Canada
Steven Rafferty is still waiting for the prime minister to reverse a planned closure of fish farms in BC but remains optimistic
Cermaq chief executive Steven Rafferty says he is encouraged by a more positive approach to the salmon farming sector from Canadian federal government departments.
Like others in the Canadian sector, he had hoped that business-focused Liberal prime minister Mark Carney would reverse the planned 2029 closure of open net pen farms in British Columbia that was driven by Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
That hasn’t happened yet, but Rafferty accepts that there are many important issues competing for Carney’s attention, and he remains hopeful of a change in policy.
Hoped for faster action
“When we got the new prime minister, we thought there was going to be faster action but I think what’s happened in the world with the geopolitics, the Trump decisions, the tariffs, wars, etc, [means salmon farming in British Columbia] has been pushed down the agenda,” he told Fish Farming Expert at Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona this week.
“What we do see is a more proactive approaches from the government departments, and a lot more discussion, a lot more meetings being planned, requests for information, but it’s a bit slow. I’ve not given up hope at all, I still believe the results will turn out well for us, but we just need patience. We’ve met multiple people from the Canadian government over the last few months and there is a change in mindset; there’s much more understanding that this is a big, multi-million-dollar industry and it can’t just disappear.”
Cermaq, one of the world's top five Atlantic salmon producers, completed the purchase of Grieg Seafood’s fish farming operations in Canada and Finnmark, Norway, for £738 million in December, and Rafferty said the closure threat hanging over the BC salmon sector made integrating the companies’ operations in the province more difficult.
A black cloud
“It’s hard doing the integration with this black cloud over you. We’re bringing two companies together, people are already concerned about their future, and they’re more concerned that potentially people lose their jobs, so it’s not a perfect situation but we still have a company very motivated to be successful in the future,” said the Scot.
Canadian fisheries minister Joanne Thompson was also at Seafood Expo Global this week, and although Rafferty was unable to meet her, he was encouraged by her attendance.
“[Her visit] was late notice and I wasn’t here when there was availability to see her,” explained Rafferty. “It’s a missed opportunity but it is a good signal. As far as I can recall it’s the first time ever that a Canadian fisheries minister has been here, at least in the last seven or eight years.”
Newfoundland
Cermaq’s purchase of Grieg assets included marine farms in Placentia Bay, and a hatchery at Marystown, Newfoundland.
“I’ll be visiting Newfoundland and Placentia Bay in two weeks’ time,” said the Cermaq CEO. “Unfortunately, we already had one trip cancelled due to weather - the airports got closed - but we’re back there shortly and in June we’ll take a further team across to discuss with the local management the ways that Cermaq can deliver support to improve the operations.
“We found a good team at Grieg in Newfoundland, very competent, but they’ve had a shortage of capital expenditure for a year and a half now. They’re now getting access to some capital, and we have big decisions to make about how to grow the business in the next two to five years. But we will grow it, unless there’s a reason not to.”
A shortage of capital at Grieg Seafood led to a project for a post-smolt facility at Marystown being mothballed, and Cermaq has yet to decide whether to restart the build.
“I’ve been there once and there’s a lot of concrete in the ground. It was about a quarter finished and then the capital stopped,” explained Rafferty.
“There’s still the hatchery beside it, and at the moment there is only the hatchery, there’s no project for post-smolt, but our teams of experts are going out in June to look at what the best thing is to do. A lot of the Marystown politicians are asking the same questions, they’d like to see job creation, but at the moment we don’t know what the right thing to do is.”
