Joint venture may see new options for St. Anthony Seafoods plant

Proposed partnership pends approval by licensing board, fisheries minister

ST. ANTHONY — Clearwater Seafoods and Quin-sea Fisheries announced on Jan. 15 an agreement to see the latter take over operations at the St. Anthony Seafoods Limited Partnership plant.

“It’s exciting news for the region,” said Simon Jarding, managing director of Quin-sea Fisheries. “We’re a local processor that sends globally and St. Anthony is a prime location for landings of seafoods on the Northern Peninsula.”

Jarding said there’s opportunity to process more products harvested from the sea in St. Anthony and they’re excited about the venture. There’s already an experienced local workforce, he said, and they see opportunity to diversify what species are processed at the plant. Right now they process shrimp and crab but see potential for the future production of ground fish.

“It’s a great opportunity, great people, they just need a fresh outlook and in combination with Clearwater we have the ingredients to do that,” Jarding said.

Clearwater issued a release about the new joint venture company, saying it can better match plant capacity to the available resource.

“This transaction puts a focus on utilization of the St.

Anthony facility at a time when the northern shrimp fishery has declined significantly and raw material supply to the plant has been reduced in recent years,” the release said.

Ian Smith, CEO of Clearwater Seafoods, also said in the release diversifying species processed at the St. Anthony plant, will ensure “the continued viability of the operation and employment in an important coastal community in Newfoundland and Labrador.”

The proposed joint venture now has to be reviewed by the Fish Processing Licensing Board and then the Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources for approval.