AKVA Group has entered into an estimated EUR 14.3 million (USD 14.5 million) contract with Cooke Aquaculture for a land-based smolt facility.
The new contract involves Kelly Cove Salmon, a division of Cooke Aquaculture based in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada, and AKVA's subsidiary focused on land-based aquaculture technology. According to AKVA, the company will begin design work on the new facility in August, with a planned commissioning date of Q4 2024.
The new contract is the latest sign that Cooke Aquaculture is planning to continue its investments in Nova Scotia. In 2020, the company renewed its license to conduct aquaculture in Liverpool Bay, Nova Scotia, soon after reaffirming its commitment to growing its operations in the area.
The company announced in March 2021 it had received approval from the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture for a new land-based salmon hatchery in Digby Neck, Nova Scotia. That project was estimated by Cooke to represent a CAD 56.8 million (USD 43.8 million, EUR 43.1 million) investment into aquaculture in the region, further cinforming the company’s commitment to salmon farming in Nova Scotia.
“We have been sustainably operating Atlantic salmon farms for over 23 years in Nova Scotia for food production, and our aim is to grow responsibly by taking a coordinated, thoughtful, science-based approach and going through all the appropriate licensing and permitting steps,” Cooke Aquaculture Vice President of Public Relations Joel Richardson said in the announcement of the facility in 2021. “We were pleased to see so many of the businesses, organizations and local governments who we have worked with over the years express support of our growth in Nova Scotia.”
AKVA, based in Norway, formed its Americas division in 2019 with an emphasis on land-based operations. In the first quarter, the company had revenues of NOK 849 million (USD 84.2 million, EUR 82.9 million).
Photo courtesy of AKVA Group ASA
