TRURO - A provincial government investment in Cooke Aquaculture is expected to create about 30 new jobs in Truro, once an expansion to the Northeast Nutrition feed mill is completed.
Truro-Bible Hill MLA Lenore Zann and representatives of Cooke Aquaculture gathered at the Willow Street facility Thursday afternoon to make the announcement.
Matthew Miller, general manager of Northeast Nutrition, said expansion will increase capacity.
"Once the plant is up and running we need people to run the plant," he said. "Expansion is obviously going to take time. It's a two-to-three-year project and we will obviously need people to build it."
The $25-million investment includes a $16-million interest-bearing loan and a $9-million forgivable loan through the Nova Scotia Jobs Fund and JobsHere. A further $4 million of the loan could be forgiven based on research, development and commercialization which would help the aquaculture industry gain long-term stability.
Cooke Aquaculture has the largest salmon farming operation in Atlantic Canada, employing about 140 people. The new investment will result in more than 400 jobs across the province, with a new salmon hatchery in Digby and a fish processing facility in Shelburne.
Cooke plans to invest $150 million in the expansion.
"Fishing has been one of Nova Scotia's mainstays and why not expand on what we know best?" said Zann. "I believe we can do this in a sustainable fashion."
Cooke Aquaculture processes and sells more than 160 million pounds of salmon and four million pounds of trout each year.
