Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada-based Ocean Trout Canada has initiated its commercialization phase, with more than 1,000 metric tons (MT) of steelhead trout to be harvested and sold over the next 18 months.
Ocean Trout Canada was created in 2018 after a rebranding of Cold Water Fisheries intended to focus on Atlantic Canada. It initiated a restocking of one of its marine farms in Newfoundland and Labrador in November 2021, and recently announced the stocking of two additional net-pen sites with steelhead trout in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
“With the stocking of these marine sites now completed, OTC is executing on its plan to commercialize the largest portfolio of Steelhead Trout licenses in North America,” the company said in a press release.
With 450,000 steelhead trout now stocked at its three marine sites, and more than one million juvenile steelhead at various stages of development at its freshwater hatcheries, the company said it is now entering a commercialization phase, according to OTC CEO W.D. (Bill) Robertson.
"These activities are part of the initial phase of an ambitious growth plan aimed at establishing a significant steelhead trout production presence in Atlantic Canada,” Robertson said. “We are fully integrated from hatchery to farm and have relationships with industry leading processors and distributors, allowing us to maintain strict quality controls and traceability standards throughout our value chain.”
OTC CFO Chris Grimes-Goard said the company will market approximately 1,000 MT of product harvested from its sites in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador over the next year-and-a-half.
"The North American market dynamics and pricing context are exceeding our original expectations, and we believe the environment will remain robust for some time as the demographic changes, population growth and healthy protein demand trends continue to be constructive,” Grimes-Goard said.
The company, which received an investment from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based 4 Touchdowns Capital in March 2021 that valued OTC at CAD 40 million (USD 31 million, EUR 30.3 million), said it expects to stock additional marine sites this fall.
“OTC's plans to continue to build its inventory and has embarked on a strategic development plan aimed at upgrading and expanding its freshwater production capacity to support the stocking additional production sites in Atlantic Canada,” it said.
Photo courtesy of Ocean Trout Canada
