MARYSTOWN, N.L. — Perry Power, human resources manager/communications with Grieg NL, said their thoughts go out to Northern Harvest Sea Farms, which had a mass salmon die-off in September that killed 2.6 million fish.
"Clearly our hearts go out to our colleagues in the other companies, certainly the employees and the people who make their living out of the aquaculture industry there," he said.
Power added that there are some factors that set the Placentia Bay project apart from that in Fortune Bay.
"It's different in its environment, in the sense that the water temperatures vary, where we will place our farms will vary, and the equipment that we're using is going to be somewhat different.
"We're using ScaleAQ's Midguard system, which is the most advanced sea-cage system in the world," he said.
"Very deep nets give fish an opportunity to move from various environmental conditions that are not favourable to them and find ones that are, be it temperature, oxygen, what have you. We're very confident that these will mitigate any circumstances which might arise such as what happened, unfortunately, in Fortune Bay."
He added that another unique factor is the influence of two currents.
"We have the Gulf Stream that comes up, but also we have the affect of the Labrador Current. It doesn't get too warm, but it doesn't get too cold, either. It's the ideal temperature for raising salmon, we believe."
Power said as a result of what happened in Fortune Bay, the company is willing to work with the government in the event that new regulations are introduced regarding salmon farming in the province.
"We have an excellent relationship with our colleagues in government. We've been privy to discussions and had a great deal of input. They've consulted us as we walk along in this process.
"Whatever regulations are coming from these discussions, we're (confident) that we're going to be able to meet or exceed them," said Power.
Work is progressing at the hatchery site at the Marine Industrial Park in Marystown.
"We're in full construction mode now," said Power. "We've got our own company self-delivering the formwork called Grieg NL Development. We have 93 employees thus far. We have over 200 people now working on the site and we're looking forward to opening the first building and having that commissioned in March 2020."
Power explained they are beginning with the hatchery building.
"That involves putting the concrete pieces and the piping into place, so we have a lot of form-work carpenters, a lot of people who are experienced with concrete and we have a lot of pipe-fitters employed. Many of them are employed with us directly. All of those people are from the Burin Peninsula except for one."
He added they also work with some sub-contractors from the Burin Peninsula, while others are from outside the region.
"They've come here and are contributing to the economy," said Power. "We're happy to have them all, and we're looking to have our first building completed shortly."
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