Hiccups slow Marbase building plans
Company still aims to complete Marystown hatchery this year
Increases in the costs of building material costs and delays in the final, official, paperwork from the provincial government have held up construction of a lumpfish hatchery in Marystown.
However, Paul Antle says fish should be swimming in tanks by the end of this year.
Antle, who owns the St. John’s Dockyard, and Norwegian aquaculture businessman Bjorn Apelan are partners in Marbase, the company that plans to build North America’s first cleanerfish hatchery on the Burin Peninsula.
Lumpfish like to eat sea lice. Marbase will supply lumpfish to salmon aquaculture sites around the province, and eventually Atlantic Canada, as a solution to the problem of sea lice in ocean cages.
Antle told Saltwire Wednesday while Marbase received environmental approval from the provincial government earlier this year, it is still waiting on one final, official, piece of paper — the aquaculture licence — to proceed with the build.
He says he’s been told by the province’s Department of Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture, that they’re working on it.
COVID, as well as the prolonged provincial election earlier this year, were some of the factors in that delay, Antle said.
He added the recent rise in building material costs also created extra challenges.
“That has impacted us severely,” he said. “Just one example: we were looking at some piping and from last year to this year the piping has doubled in price. And it’s only available in Europe and some parts of the United States.”
Antle said to keep construction costs within the original budget of $15 million to $20 million they’ve had to redesign some of the components of the hatchery.
“Everything from lumber, to pipes, to pumps, everything has increased. It’s incredible,” he said adding that without some redesign work that and would have driven the cost of the project up by about 30 to 40 per cent.
“We just couldn’t justify that so we had to go back and look at ways of being able to do it better and more efficiently, with different materials, and things like that.
“We’re back within our budget envelope now,” he said, adding they’re hoping the cost of some construction materials might soon drop, noting lumber prices have gone down about 20 per cent in the last few days.
“That’s a good sign),” he said. “So we’re hoping that continues across the full spectrum of (construction supplies).
Antle added it’s still an option to delay the construction start for a while longer, if building materials take another hike. But Marbase really hopes to start building this year.
Meanwhile, he said, the aquaculture licence from the province is a crucial next step.
Without that piece of paper, he said, they can’t unlock the financing for the hatchery.
“We’re still hoping to get into construction this season and have fish in tanks by November,” he said.
“It’s going to be a push, but that’s our target.”