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
AQUABOUNTY
AquaBounty Technologies is a biotechnology company focused on improving productivity in commercial aquaculture, a $100 billion industry and the fastest growing segment of the worldwide food industry. Their objective is the application of biotechnology to ensure the availability of high quality seafood to meet global consumer demand. AquaBounty is developing advanced-hybrid salmon, trout, and tilapia designed to grow faster than their conventional siblings.
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.