Move over salmon, Cooke's Cod squad is making waves

CANADA - The greenish waters of Kelly Cove, flanked on one side by the picturesque Green's Point Lighthouse and on the other by the Deer Island ferry landing, boiled Thursday as dozens of farm-raised cod were lifted from their sea cage and into the aquaculture history books.

In a Canadian first, Cooke Aquaculture, New Brunswick's biggest salmon farmer, is bringing cod to market.

"This is a new frontier for us," Nell Halse, Cooke Aquaculture's communications director, said Thursday from the deck of a harvest boat.

Company officials have high hopes for its cod, a species made more valuable because of the over-fishing of wild stocks.

"I think when we get these fish out to the marketplace and people get a taste for them, they'll command a good dollar," said Frank Powell, Cooke Aquaculture's manager for alternate species.

"We're quite proud." He's worked with these cod for the past two years, helping the company fine-tune its feed composition and frequency to grow the cod into a marketable commodity.

Seeing the 70,000 fish that started as 20-gram pipsqueaks now glistening under a clear, sunny sky, Mr. Powell and his colleagues enjoyed a proud moment.

Source: CanadaEast