Exciting announcement for Comeau’s Sea Foods

Frozen-at-sea processing vessel contract signed for Comeau’s Sea Foods Limited

Although construction and the ultimate delivery of the vessel is still a long way off, Comeau’s Sea Foods Limited is excited about the opportunities a state-of-theart, frozen-at-sea vessel will bring.

The company, based in the Acadian village of Saulnierville, Digby County, has announced that following a request for proposals, a contract

has been signed with Astilleros Armon shipyard in Vigo, Spain for the construction of a 50-metre frozen-at-sea scallop harvesting and processing vessel.

Bedford-based Allswater Marine provided the design and architecture for the new build.

This is the company’s first frozen-at-sea vessel and will be a floating factory at sea.

“It’s like a factory. Just like right here at Comeau’s Sea Foods,” says Noël Després, president and CEO of Comeau’s Sea Foods, who says it will greatly change and improve the way the company is able to harvest scallops when compared to the work that’s taken place over the last 40 or 50 years.

“As you have the product coming out of the shell, either manually or with machinery, within a couple of minutes it’s frozen and then it goes into the hold of the vessel, which is a big freezer,” he says, pointing out it is the same approach companies such as Clearwater and others have A frozen-at-sea vessel is to be constructed for Comeau’s Sea Foods, with expected completion in the spring of 2020. taken.

Després says the modern, stateof-the-art vessel will be a product of pride for the company, which employs about 500 people.

“It’s going to be a very proud moment for fishermen. It’s a safety aspect,” he says.

“People finally will not have to go on deck to pick up the shell stock, put them in baskets, carry them – which now there has to be two people because of the weight – and then shuck them all manually and then go back and do that all over again when there is another rake-full coming,” he says. “This is just going to be a continuous, ongoing dumping of scallop stock. There’s also a big, big holding tank with seawater and it cleans out of the scallops.”

The cutting of steel and setting of the keel for the vessel is scheduled to begin in the next few months. This will take place at the Astilleros Armon shipyard. Anticipated construction of the vessel is scheduled to last 20 months with an expected delivery in the spring of 2020.

“It’s fascinating,” Després about the vessel and its capabil- ities. “I think for the people who fish on our vessels, now they can point and say, ‘Hey, that’s what we’re going to be on.’”

Aside from sheltering the crew from the elements as they’re not having to carry out all of the work on deck, another advantage of this type of a vessel is it can stay out longer at sea without the constant need to be making trips back and forth to the wharf due to the catch on board.

“These vessels are much better seaworthy and it’s going to give that possibility if they want to stay out longer,” Després says.

The company says this vessel will provide a new harvesting platform that will enable Comeau’s Sea Foods Limited to continue supplying superior quality MSC certified Comeau scallops for years to come.

The vessel will have enough bunks for 31 people, although it’s not yet known what the size of the crew will be.

The vessel will be named the Lady Comeau III after Thérèse Comeau, the wife of Comeau’s Sea Foods Limited founder, Bernardin Comeau.

Comeau’s Sea Foods has been in operation for more than 70 years and in addition to its operations that are based in Saulnierville, it includes a number of processing plants and other facilities in southwestern Nova Scotia.

Després is not commenting on the cost of the new vessel, but he says it represents a very large investment for the company.