News & Views
Feds help fund Cooke expansion

The investments will enable the company to expand its Oak Bay hatchery where it will develop and implement advanced genomics technology, building on its salmon breeding expertise, according to a release. The funding is also expected to help expand and modernize the company’s Johnson Lake hatchery facility, creating up to six new jobs.

“Our family purchased this hatchery 30 years ago, just a few years after establishing our first salmon farm in Kelly Cove,” said Glenn Cooke, chief executive officer of Cooke Aquaculture. “We invested in a hatchery to ensure we’d have a consistent and independent supply of eggs and smolt.

“As the company has expanded across the region, so has our need to grow this supply. This facility has continued to play a very important part in our operations and our ability to grow healthy seafood in a safe and sustainable manner.”

A $3-million investment is going toward the Johnson Lake expansion project and more than $2.6 million is going toward the Oak Bay hatchery expansion project.

“These expansions will enable Cooke Aquaculture to build on its already vast expertise in salmon breeding and contribute to the development of advanced technology that will help fuel further growth and commercialization, all while creating and maintaining highly-skilled jobs in our region,” said Karen Ludwig, Member of Parliament for New Brunswick Southwest.

Both expansion projects support innovation and productivity improvements in the aquaculture sector and are part of Cooke Aquaculture’s five-year plan to invest more than $500 million in Atlantic Canada.