Grieg plans Newfoundland hatchery

lice and other health challenges.

Collier said the goal of Grieg Holdings, the Norwegian based parent company, is to establish an aquaculture industry in the province that produces up to 30,000 tonnes of farmed salmon annually, which would make it a major player in the industry.

Another division of the company, Grieg Seafarms, is proposing to establish farms in Placentia Bay. Planning has been ongoing for about a year.

Collier told CNC that there was plenty of excitement in the Marystown area about the hatchery proposal, and the company is continuing to negotiate an agreement with the town council. The Minister, Dan Crummell, is expected to make a decision by November 15. A PROPOSAL to build a $75 million salmon hatchery in Marystown, on Newfoundland and Labrador’s Burin Peninsula, is now being evaluated by the province’s environment department, CBC News reported last month.

The company, Grieg Nurseries N.L., has plans to produce up to seven million smolt annually, becoming the third and largest hatchery to operate in the province.

A company spokesman, Clyde Collier, said this will include six million smolt weighing 300g, and another one million weighing about 1.5kg. This is significantly larger than the smolt traditionally produced in the province.

The idea is to reduce the amount of time that salmon are in the ocean farms from about 18 to 16 months.

‘Larger fish going in means larger fish coming out,’ he said, noting that this leads to better prices in the marketplace, and helps combat issues related to sea