Land-based salmon farmer preps product for the Canadian market

It took eight years of hard work, but it seems that Sustainable Fish Farming, a land-based Nova Scotia fish farming company, is ready at last to present its locally grown Atlantic salmon to the Canadian market.

Salmon from Sustainable Fish Farming are raised in large tanks on land on a farm near the Bay of Fundy in Center Burlington. The closed containment system employed by the company for the farming process – which took almost a decade to perfect – not only involves recycling all of the saltwater used in the tanks, but it also filters out accumulated fish waste and repurposes it as fertilizer. The salmon, which will be sold under the brand name Sustainable Blue, dine on organic fish food and are reportedly anti-biotic free.

Starting next week, the first crop of Sustainable Blue fish will be marketed and sold to restaurants and fish brokers in Nova Scotia and Toronto, according to Kirk Havercroft, CEO of Sustainable Fish Farming.

"Next week we begin to sell our first Atlantic salmon to the market, and that really marks the start of continuous production," Havercroft told CBC News.

After experiencing a setback in March 2014, when an electrical failure wiped out the entire crop of mature salmon in one evening, the producers behind Sustainable Blue are now looking forward to seeing their determination – and product – pay off.

"We were determined to get there. So this is a really exciting time," said Havercroft. "It feels extremely rewarding now to see our product finally go to market.”

Initial product trials have been successful: Chives Restaurant in Halifax was the first retailer to serve Sustainable Blue salmon to its customers this past summer. The salmon test went well, according to Craig Flinn, the head chef and owner of Chives.

"One thing I like about it, is the fish at the size they currently are, they're leaner and the flesh is quite firm and has a good color," Chives told CBC News regarding his impression of the product.

Sustainable Fish Farming began developing the technology for its closed-containment system back in 2007. The current Sustainable Blue farming facility can produce 100 metric tons of salmon per year; new additions for the site hope to boost that production rate to 165 metric tons per year. Next year, the company intends to construct a 500-metric ton production unit on land adjacent to its existing farm, and license the unit to another farm.

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