Nova Scotia, Canada-based Millbrook First Nation has announced it has gained approval from the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NSDFA) to partner with Cooke Aquaculture Inc. on a land-based recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) fish hatchery in Millbrook.
The partnership will be between the First Nation and Kelly Cove Salmon, the Atlantic Canadian salmon farming division of Cooke. The approval amounts to an aquaculture license for the facility assigned to Kelly Cove Salmon.
“Millbrook First Nation is looking to the future to ensure our people stay connected to local seafood through innovative ways. Farming Atlantic salmon through best practices in association with Cooke Aquaculture as a world-leading company provides us with a sustainable source of nutritious salmon and employment opportunities,” Millbrook First Nation Chief Bob Gloade said in a release. “We appreciate that Cooke is growing responsibility and thoughtfully in Nova Scotia.”
Millbrook First Nation is a Mi’kmaq community in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada. Initially, according to the First Nation Council, the community started farming Arctic char, but later transitioned to farming Atlantic salmon.
The facility, which is already operational and raising salmon, features a grow-out building, filtration building, bio filter/degassing building, a hatchery, and a greenhouse, according to the announcement. The hatchery and main facility use a RAS, with a capacity to grow “450,000 salmon smolt for Cooke’s 12 marine aquaculture sites along Nova Scotia’s southern and western shores,” the announcement said.
“We have formed a productive relationship with the Millbrook First Nation to work together to grow Atlantic salmon smolt at their former Artic char land-based facility located in the community of Millbrook,” Cooke Aquaculture CEO Glenn Cooke said in a release. “Our Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. team and contractors from Millbrook First Nation have spent six months making preparations, and we are thrilled to be contributing to the community’s economic development.”
