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Cooke’s Kelly Cove Salmon attends Nova Scotia review to expand farm boundaries

This week, Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. is appearing in a public hearing on Oct. 7-10 before the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board regarding the company’s application to amend its Coffin Island farm’s boundaries.

The company – the Canadian Atlantic salmon farming division of Cooke Aquaculture – is applying for a modest expansion to the farm, according to a press release from Cooke Aquaculture. The farm is located in Liverpool Bay, Nova Scotia.

The Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board is an independent decision-making body with a mandate to decide on aquaculture applications in marine areas for new sites, expansions to existing sites, and the addition of finfish species to sites not currently approved to produce finfish. The public hearing was presided by review board member, Damien Barry.

“We are optimistic that the Board will approve this boundary amendment, and we look forward to continuing to be part of the working waterfront in Liverpool Bay,” said Joel Richardson, vice-president of Public Relations at Cooke Aquaculture.

Ecojustice, Canada’s largest environmental law charity, is representing the Protect Liverpool Bay Association at the hearing and participating as intervenor. A public hearing intervenor is an individual or group with a demonstrable interest in a matter being heard in a formal hearing process.

On Oct. 7, Kelly Cove Salmon staff and affiliate aquaculture professionals sat on a panel before Ecojustice representatives to review hearing documents submitted in relation to the farm’s application for expansion. Questioning included details of current farming operations practices, environmental impacts, designs of the expansion, and local community consultations, including local Indigenous communities.

As part of Kelly Cove’s testimony, the company exhibited the following video about its operations in Nova Scotia.

Currently, the farm has 462,000 Atlantic salmon across 14 cages. The application is to add six cages and 198,000 fish to the existing site, which would increase the total number of fish to 660,000, the company explained.

Extensive performance reviews have assessed the technical and biological assessment of the salmon farm, and the site is compliant with the environmental regulations, the company indicated.

“Kelly Cove has been responsibly operating Atlantic salmon farm sites for more than 25 years in Nova Scotia and has invested over C$250 million (US$179.1 million) in establishing salmon farms, plant and distribution facilities, trucking operations and other buildings,” said Cooke Aquaculture.

Today, Kelly Cove and its affiliates have 323 full-time employees in Nova Scotia.