Cooke Aquaculture to Develop New Process to Battle Sea Lice

Project Description

Cooke Aquaculture (Blacks Harbour, N.B.)
ACOA Assistance: $3,000,000 (AIF Conditionally Repayable)
Fisheries and Oceans Canada: $247,000 (Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development
Program)
Proponent Funding:  $1,955,907
Total project Cost: $5,193,907

Cooke Aquaculture is owned by members of the Cooke family (brothers Glenn and Michael and father Gifford) and is based out of Black’s Harbour, New Brunswick.  Since 1985, Cooke has grown from one farm with 5,000 salmon to a fully integrated company with operations spanning the Atlantic Provinces, United States, Chile, Spain, Argentina, and the United Kingdom.  Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, the company processes and sells 115,000 metric tons of Atlantic salmon each year.  All of Cooke's North American operations are 4-star certified under the Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) designation.  Cooke Aquaculture is the industry leader in the East Coast salmon industry and one of the top two producers of farmed salmon in the world.

With $3,000,000 in funding under from ACOA’s AIF, as well as $247,000 in funding from DFO’s Aquaculture Collaborative Research and Development Program, this project will develop a novel device and process that uses warm water to remove sea lice from salmon in a manner that achieves a 95% removal rate of the sea lice which are then filtered, collected, and brought ashore for disposal.  The device and process will be environmentally and economically attractive as warm water will be used instead of costly therapeutants, the components will be relatively low cost, and the overall design will be relatively inexpensive to fabricate, operate, maintain, and replicate for installing at multiple locations.  The technology will be an additional sea lice treatment tool to complement existing treatment methods which include well boats, three bay managements systems, and other environmentally sound management practices.

Cooke estimates industry costs due to sea lice infestation in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador alone at over $15 million a year for the past five years.  If successful, this project will have a direct impact on reducing sea lice-related losses for the company and provide a green alternative to managing sea lice outbreaks, thereby strengthening the Atlantic salmon brand and competitiveness in the marketplace as being an innovative and environmentally responsible product. 

ACOA’s Innovation Programming

ACOA’s innovation programming, which includes the Atlantic Innovation Fund and the Business Development Program, responds to the evolving needs of Atlantic businesses and researchers. It is designed to help bring to market new products, technologies and services that will improve the competitiveness and productivity of the Atlantic economy. These programs also provide support to small and medium-sized enterprises across the region to acquire or adapt innovative technologies that can improve their productivity and competitiveness, while also enabling them to build the skills they need to innovate and compete in today’s global economy.

Since January 2016, the Government of Canada through ACOA, has announced investments of over

$35 million for 16 innovation and R&D projects in the Atlantic region. New investments totaling nearly    $3 million will be announced over the coming weeks, bringing ACOA’s total investments for innovation projects in 2016 to over $38 million.

Investing in Innovation in Atlantic Canada

AIF investments since January 2016