Grieg preparing for first N.L. salmon harvest, but its processing plan is causing waves

A rapidly growing player in the Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture industry plans to harvest its first market-sized fish from Placentia Bay this fall, launching what company officials hope will be a profitable and environmentally sound business that will create hundreds of long-term jobs. 

"We have proven that Placentia Bay is not only viable, it's actually a very preferable place to do fish farming," Perry Power, a spokesman for Grieg Seafood Newfoundland, told CBC News this week.

"The fish have performed extremely well. We're very pleased with their rate of growth and their health and we look forward to expanding our operations as planned in Placentia Bay."

But Grieg's new plan for processing that salmon is drawing criticism.

Grieg Seafood Newfoundland has announced that 5,000 metric tonnes of farmed salmon will be harvested this fall from sea cages off Marasheen Island, near Southern Harbour. The cages were populated with fish that were grown to roughly 250 grams at the company's new hatchery in Marystown, and will weigh as much as five kilograms at harvest time.

The fish are not able to reproduce, said Power, which addresses a major concern about escapees breeding with wild salmon. 

Grieg hopes to eventually produce up to 33,000 metric tonnes of fish annually, from up to 11 sites throughout Placentia Bay, which would more than double salmon production in the province from 2021 levels.

But instead of processing its fish at the Ocean Choice International seafood plant in St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula, which Grieg officials had signalled for years would be the plan, the fish will be transported north for processing at the Quinlan Brothers plant in Bay de Verde.

The move has been criticized by OCI officials and the leadership of the union — FFAW-Unifor — that represents workers at the St. Lawrence plant. 

In a statement, OCI president Blaine Sullivan said he's disappointed, and that the decision is "disheartening for our employees as well as the community of St. Lawrence, as it is for us as well."

OCI, however, continues to be a partner with Grieg in the overall project and "we look forward to continuing (that) well into the future," said Sullivan.

Despite the processing snub, Sullivan predicts a bright future for the St. Lawrence plant.

"The decision by Grieg does not change this," he said.

FFAW-Unifor president Greg Pretty accused Grieg of "contract flipping" and choosing "cheap labour" at a non-unionized plant in Bay de Verde. Quinlan Brothers rely heavily on temporary foreign workers, with some 125 workers from Thailand expected this season.