Grieg Seafood has been granted five new farming licenses in Newfoundland, giving its Placentia Bay project a big boost.
In February 2020, the Bergen, Norway-headquartered company announced the acquisition of new Canadian salmon farming venture Grieg Newfoundland AS, a greenfield project that has exclusive rights for salmon farming in Placentia Bay.
The venture now has eight licenses in the region, giving it a total production capacity of up to 30,000 metric tons (MT) of annual harvest in Placentia Bay, according to the company.
“This is another important milestone on our journey of sustainable growth,” Grieg Seafood Andreas Kvame said in a press release. “With these five new licenses, we have come one step further in the development of a new farming region in Newfoundland. With close proximity to the important U.S. East Coast market, the Newfoundland farming operations is core to our 2025 strategy. Here, we aim for global growth, cost leadership in the regions where we operate and value chain repositioning, evolving from a supplier to an innovative partner for selected customers in the U.S. and European markets.”
Kvame predicted Grieg will produce its first salmon out of Placentia Bay by 2022 or 2023, and will be producing 15,000 MT of Atlantic salmon by 2025. With exclusive rights to farm in Placentia Bay for the next 20 years, and with another three additional licenses in the application pipeline, Kvame said the region has a long-term annual harvest potential of up to 45,000 MT.
As part of its Placentia Bay development, Grieg is constructing a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) fresh-water facility that will include hatchery, nursery, smolt, and post-smolt divisions in Marystown, Newfoundland. The first eggs were placed into the hatchery in June 2020, the company announced.
“We will build the Newfoundland region step-by-step and in line with best practice from our best performing operations in our Norwegian regions,” Kvame said. “We are committed to farm with as low environmental impact and as high fish welfare as possible, and to contribute to local jobs and value creation in the Marystown area. It is important for us to be a good partner to the local communities and local authorities to create value for all.”
Photo courtesy of Grieg Newfoundland
