Leading the pack in Eastern Canada
The latest smolt facility run by Northern Harvest, which recently became the world’s first 4-star BAP certified salmon producer, has been deemed as 'world class' by the head of the local industry association.
The Executive Director of the NL Aquaculture Industry Association, Mark Lane, spoke to Fish Farming Expert about his recent visit to the hatchery.
“To truly appreciate the capital investment and continuing positive impact of a world class state-of-the-art of hatchery located in Newfoundland and Labrador, one has to see it first hand. The modern and innovative technology that has been implemented, as well as the dedicated, hard-working, and well trained staff that operate this hatchery, are true indicators that companies are committed to growing a high quality salmon from egg to plate in a manner that is sustainable and environmentally responsible,” he said.
Founded in 1985 by the Ingalls family, Northern Harvest is one of Atlantic Canada’s largest aquaculture companies, with salmon production levels in excess of 15,000 tonnes annually.
The company sells exclusively fresh (never frozen) salmon to American and Canadian markets. And their success can be attributed to using the latest innovations and technology that have helped to earn the 4-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) status –the world’s first salmon farming company to achieve this standard.
As of December 2015, all Northern Harvest processing plants, farm sites, feed mills and now hatcheries are BAP certified.
Larry Ingalls, company president, said this achievement is a direct reflection of the commitment that Northern Harvest management and employees have towards sustainability.
“Our employees and their families live in the same areas where we operate. We eat the products we produce and we are all committed to ensuring the long term viability of our operations as well as environmental sustainability,” he said. “We have proven once again that being a small, family-owned operation does not mean we cannot be global industry leader”.
It starts in the nursery
The ability to produce their exceptional product starts in the hatchery.
With 23 employees, the Northern Harvest hatchery, operated in Stephenville NL, has an annual capacity ranging from 3 to 6 million smolts (of 80-160 grams) – depending on the size of the fish.
When ready, smolts from the hatchery are transferred to grow-out facilities in the South Coast of NFLD by way of an 8 hour wellboat ride.
“We are able to track the parentage to the egg to the smolt and through to harvest at marine sites,” said Aaron Craig, hatchery manager for Northern Harvest.
“We also have a broodstock program that is managed by Huntsman [Marine Sciences Centre]. We keep 100 families and track performance throughout their lifecycle.”
The hatchery has a long term commitment to optimize production. Housed in land-based systems on Prince Edward Island, the broodstock are constantly upgraded.
“The best families are kept and the worst discarded and replaced with new families to track,” explained Craig.
The state-of-the-art hatchery boasts a floating bed bio-filter, UV disinfection and tank hydraulics based on the Cornell concept for ideal solids removal.
Other furnishings include overhead fish-moving lines to gravity feed fish to different tanks when handling and grading, and an Oxyguard Commander system to monitor oxygen, temperature, pH and water levels.
And because of ideal water parameters (a PH of 8.2 which reduces the need for buffering) onsite, recirculation systems work very well at this new location.
