Grieg to face public about Canada salmon farm plans
A public information session on the large salmon farming project proposed by Grieg NL Nurseries Ltd. and Grieg NL Seafarms Ltd for Marystown and Placentia Bay in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) will be held on March 13.
The session is a requirement of the environmental impact statement (EIS) the company was ordered to complete on the project.
The company says all aspects of the proposed project and associated activities will be described during the session, and people will be given an opportunity to state their concerns or request information.
Interactive remote viewing centres with live broadcast of the Marystown event will be available at three other towns in the area.
Grieg NL’s proposal includes a CA$75 million hatchery and nursery facility, to produce seven million smolt annually and stock 11 sea cage sites in Placentia Bay, ultimately producing 33,000 tonnes of salmon a year. This would more than double the province’s annual production of farmed salmon.
In July 2016 Perry Trimper, who was then NL’s minister of environment and climate change, released the project from further environmental assessment. North American NGO the Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) appealed Trimper’s decision and Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador judge, Justice Gillian Butler, overruled the politician. Her ruling meant Grieg NL had to prepare an EIS.
Newfoundland and Labrador province has committed to funding CA$45m of the salmon farming project, which has an estimated total cost of CA$250m (£152m).
Grieg Group owns Grieg Seafood, which farms salmon in Shetland and Skye, as well as in Norway and in British Columbia, western Canada.
