Industries – Finfish
Prince Edward Island has a strong history in cultured finfish production. Rainbow trout and salmon enhancement efforts were carried out in the 1920s, while trials to develop commercial finfish operations began in the 1970s.
At the time, research concluded that salmonoid production on PEI was not viable due to conditions in local estuaries, particularly the seasonal water temperature extremes.
Prince Edward Island’s large quantities of high quality groundwater and land-based finfish hatcheries allowed for PEI finfish production to generate more than $4.1 million in the last year.
Today, the finfish aquaculture members on PEI consists of five operations. These operations yield:
- Rainbow Trout
- Atlantic Salmon
- Eggs, Fry and Smolts
- Halibut
Island hatchery operations export much of their production to other provinces in Atlantic Canada. This disease-free stock allows other finfish aquaculture businesses in the region to grow healthy finfish to market size.
PEI FINFISH PRODUCERS
Amar Seafood
Amar Seafood is a fully integrated aquaculture company. We manage every stage of production from egg retrieval in our own broodstock to harvesting market-ready fish (HOG – Head-on-Gutted).
Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd.
Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. currently produces farmed Atlantic salmon annually across twelve marine aquaculture sites along Nova Scotia’s Southern and Western shores.
MOWI
Mowi ASA is one of the largest seafood companies in the world, and the world’s largest producer of Atlantic salmon with harvest volumes of 475 000 tonnes in 2023, equivalent to a global market share of approximately 20%.
OCEAN TROUT CANADA
Ocean Trout Canada is focused on producing large Steelhead trout in the Canadian Maritime provinces, with a fully integrated platform encompassing hatchery facilities, geographically diverse grow out systems and an export ready fish processing plant.