Ottawa invests $2.625M for new equipment at Arnold’s Cove plant
Icewater Seafood’s in Arnold’s Cove is the recent beneficiary of $2.625 million in federal funding.
The funds, a provisionally repayable investment which comes from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), has been put towards purchasing new cod processing technology, including new deheading, filleting and skinning machines.
“The technology gives a much better texture fish,” explained Icewater president Alberto Warehem. “And everything with quality with us is about the texture of the fillet. So because we start off with a better texture, everything else in our operations follows from there.”
Wareham also noted that the new technology will mean the machines can fillet larger fish.
The upgrades are expected to improve quality and increase yield without sacrificing staff, as there are as yet no changes to staffing numbers following the implementation of the new machinery. The plant continues to employ approximately 200 full and part-time workers, many of whom live in Arnold’s Cove and surrounding communities.
According to an ACOA release, Icewater is the only processor in North America dedicated full-time to Atlantic cod production.
According to Wareham, Icewater is now the only plant in the world to have the three machines — deheading, filleting, and skinning — used for North Atlantic cod.
Icewater contributed $875,000 of their own funds to the new technology, for a total investment of about $3.5 million.