The ongoing growth and development of the aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays in particular and in the province in general continued on a strong path in 2011. Some of the highlights of that growth are included in the following article.
One of the shining lights in the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture’s 2010 Seafood Industry Year in Review was the province’s aquaculture industry.
According to the report, the aquaculture industry reached a record level of 15,360 tonnes in 2010, which was valued at $116 million. Production rose 13 per cent and the market value for aquaculture products increased by 26 per cent. This was due primarily to higher production in the salmonid sector as prices for salmon continued to be strong around the world.
In addition to an increase in exports in 2010, the aquaculture industry also saw an increase in direct employment from 655 employees in 2009 to 684 persons in 2010, an increase of 4.4 per cent.
The then Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Clyde Jackman said that the aquaculture industry has a tremendous potential for growth in the Coast of Bays (COB) region.
The Newfoundland and Labrador Aquaculture Industry Association (NAIA) held its 18th annual conference and trade show in Gander from February 22 to 24 as about a hundred industry related people met to discuss what happened in the industry in 2010 and to look at the plans ahead for the New Year.
Miranda Pryor, the Executive Director of NAIA, said that the focus of the 2011 conference was on aquaculture in rural Newfoundland and its impact on the communities where the industry is prevalent.
Pryor said, “We get together once a year to discuss how the aquaculture industry is doing in general and what the plans are for the future. It’s an opportunity for all stakeholders to get together for several days to discuss issues relevant to the industry such as the latest developments in technology and science.
Clyde Collier of St. Alban’s is one of the true pioneers in the aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays and his dedicated, long-time work did not go unnoticed by his peers last year.
Collier was named the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association’s (NAIA) 2010 Aquaculturist of the Year at the NAIA annual Conference and Trade Show.
Cyr Couturier, an official with NAIA and the Chair of the NAIA Awards Committee, said that the Aquaculturist of the Year award honours individuals for outstanding contribution to NAIA and/or the development of the aquaculture sector in our province. The emphasis of the award is on significant contributions to NAIA or the industry over time.
Clyde Collier has certainly made a significant contribution to the aquaculture industry over the past 25 years.
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Gray Aquaculture of Conne River (with head offices in New Brunswick) is coming to Hermitage-Sandyville. The news quickly spread around the town and the area during the first week of June, and there was excitement in the air. Tim Gray, the president of Gray Aquaculture and Clyde Collier, Gray Aquaculture’s Newfoundland Operations Manager met with Mayor Doug Rose in June to announce that the company would be processing salmon in the community sometime starting in 2012.”
Cold Ocean Salmon, a Division of Cooke Aquaculture, was pleased to announce the signing of an agreement with Vernon Watkins for the purchase of his salmon and trout farming operations in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2011.
“Vernon Watkins is a well respected and well known pioneer in the province’s aquaculture industry who has developed farming assets that have proven to be very successful. We have always enjoyed a good business relationship with Vernon,” says Glenn Cooke of Cooke Aquaculture Inc.
A giant step in the evolution of the aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays happened on Thursday, July 14 when Premier Kathy Dunderdale officially opened the new Centre for Aquaculture Health and Development in St. Alban’s.
The centre is a world-class facility that will enable its professional staff to expand the industry’s fish health and clinical research capacity. The centre will meet federal and international standards, and will provide valid and reliable diagnostic results in a timely manner.
The Coast of Bays aquaculture industry is already a model to the world for its biosecurity in many ways and this health centre, with its diagnostic labatories and technical staff, will enable the industry to prosper even further.
Two key pieces of aquaculture infrastructure in the Coast of Bays were officially opened on Friday, July 15 by the Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Premier Dunderdale was in Hermitage-Sandyville and Pool’s Cove to open the two-aquaculture wharves that will be extremely important to the continuing growth of the industry in the Coast of Bays.
Another major event in the evolution of the aquaculture industry in the COB that happened in 2001 was the opening of the Cooke salmon hatchery in Swanger Cove.
According to Jim Murphy, who has worked in hatcheries all around the world, the Cooke Aquaculture hatchery in Swanger Cove (St. Alban’s) is one of the most modern facilities of its kind on the planet.
Murphy said, “With its state-of the-art water recirculation system, its sensors to control water flow and the feed system, its artificial lighting program, among other modern technologies, this hatchery will be a fabulous place to work. Murphy, who will be the manager of the hatchery, said that the facility which was scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2011.
Chuck Brown, a spokesperson for Cooke Aquaculture, said that the company is very proud of its newest hatchery, which represents the company’s long-term commitment to the Coast of Bays.
“This facility will make our Newfoundland operations a little more self-sufficient,” Brown said, “in that we will be able to able to stock our Newfoundland farms with fish raised in this province.”
While Rencontre East may not have been ready to embrace the aquaculture industry several years ago, the mood in the community has changed as the residents welcomed the industry with open arms in 2011.
In late May Northern Harvest Sea Farms placed two million smolts in 53 cages at three grow-out sites near Rencontre. Twenty-three residents of the community are now working full-time raising those smolts that will be ready for processing in the fall of 2012.
Doug Caines, the General Manage of NHSF in Newfoundland, said that the workers of Rencontre are doing an excellent job for the company and will be an important part of the company’s future in the area.
Although the Coast of Bays may have been late entering the worldwide aquaculture game, the area is leading the world in one important aspect of the industry – cleaning nets.
While other jurisdictions like Norway and Scotland are cleaning nets on land they are not doing it in enclosed areas which presents environmental issues in these areas as some copper based anti-foulants and untreated wastewater still escapes into the environment.
Boyd Pack, owner of Newfoundland Aqua Service Ltd. said, “Our operation is going to be a closed system – in other words all of the water will be recycled for reuse, evaporated or cleaned-up to meet environmental standards. The biofoulants from our nets will be dewatered and used to make B grade compost that can be used for things like site reclamation at abandoned mining sites or coverings for old dump sites etc. We have seen net cleaning operations in other areas of the world, and no one else is using a system like the one we will have in place in 2012. Because we are just starting, we have the opportunity to learn from what has happened in other jurisdictions.”
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