Loch Duart subsidiary applies for renewal applications in Nova Scotia

Scottish salmon farmer looks to Canada’s eastern shores again after six years.

Snow Island Salmon – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Scottish salmon producer Loch Duart – is planning on two fish farm lease renewal applications in Novia Scotia, the company confirmed to SalmonBusiness.

Snow Island Salmon
One is for a 36-hectare site in Owl’s Head Bay, and one for a 3.35-hectare site in Ship Harbour. Both are in Halifax County and both are for Atlantic salmon and Rainbow trout.

Both proposed term is for a 10-year Licence/20 year Lease. The applications are on the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture website under a Notice of Administrative Decision.

Return
Named after a small island in Nova Scotia east of Halifax, Snow Island was rejected by the Nova Scotia government in 2012. At the time, the province added that it is the first time Fisheries and Oceans described a proposed fish farm as representing a moderate risk to wild salmon.

A moratorium was imposed on all new fin fish and shellfish sites in May 2013 and lifted in 2016. The new plans will mark a return to the province after six years.

The area is currently experiencing a a boom in salmon farming. If greenlit, the Scottish salmon farmer will be joining the likes of Grieg NL, Cooke Aquaculture and Mowi which are currently expanding massively.

Loch Duart Managing Director Alban Denton. PHOTO: Spreng Thomson

Has the project been reinvigorated and what is behind the drive now?

Loch Duart Managing Director Alban Denton told SalmonBusiness in an email: “Snow Island Salmon has not been reinvigorated. Loch Duart manages and maintains all of its new and existing sites to the appropriate level of readiness for long-term and future strategic use.”

Strategic aim
Denton didn’t want to comment on how Snow Island Salmon would now be marketed. In its last form it had the tagline: Snow Island: “only the taste is wild”.

“Loch Duart is a Scottish owned business with a global perspective and our strategic aim, whether in Scotland, Nova Scotia or internationally, is to produce the highest quality salmon by operating in a way that aims to always meet, and often exceeds, the standards set for our industry,” concluded Denton.

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