Cooke Aquaculture Reveals Site of Salmon Hatchery

Although Cold Ocean Inc. (Cooke Aquaculture Inc.) is not ready to make a formal announcement, it seems that St. Alban's will be the site of the company's Newfoundland salmon hatchery.

The Coaster reports that, on 1 October 2009, the company registered an undertaking with the provincial Department of Environment and Conservation which said that the company plans to construct and operate a salmon hatchery consisting of a 47 metre by 65 metre building on a 7.2-hectare site within the town limits of St Alban's-Swanger's Cove, Bay d'Espoir.

However, Nell Halse, a communications official with Cooke Aquaculture, cautioned on 8 October that the company is not ready to formally announce the project as "there are some hoops we have to go through before the final announcement."

Ms Halse said: "I can certainly confirm that we are working through the process but we don't have all the approvals yet.

"Since the Newfoundland government made the release on October 1, it's no secret now that we have identified St Alban's as a very good site for our salmon hatchery in Newfoundland."

Ms Halse added that Cooke Aquaculture hopes to have the final approvals within the next few weeks.

"While several communities were vying for the hatchery," Mrs. Halse said, " there were several reasons why the company would like to have its Newfoundland hatchery in St Alban's.

"When we considered environmental factors, transportation issues and the distance from the hatchery to our grow-out sites then St Alban's was seen as the best location for the hatchery.

"The area has a good fresh water supply and has a ready access to shipping by ocean transportation. In addition, it's some distance from other operations, which is good for biosecurity issues. The area is very close to where we'll be transporting our fish as well."