Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is a family owned and managed Holding Corporation for a group of vertically integrated salmon farming companies based in St. George, NB. The company has been active in the salmon aquaculture industry since 1985 when it started with a single marine cage site growing 5,000 fish. Since its humble beginnings the company has grown steadily until the present time. Today with annual sales of approximately $100 million, operations include a saltwater and freshwater division, a sales and processing division, an manufacturing and service division, a feed division and a transportation division. Kelly Cove Salmon, the saltwater and freshwater divisions, with a land-based broodstock facility, 6 salmon hatcheries, 1 cod nursery, and 30 marine cage sites (salmon farms). The company initiated the province’s first land-based broodstock program at Oak Bay near St. Stephen, NB which provides eggs for all of the Cooke Aquaculture Inc. operations. This state-of-the-art facility is home to broodstock that have never been in seawater. Because they have lived in a controlled environment the company is able to minimize the risk of disease transmission to the stock. After hatch the fish are grown to the smolt stage in one of six land-based hatcheries. By utilizing the latest in hatchery technologies the company is able to control the growth rate of fish to the smolt stage and make smolt available to the sea water operations three or four times a year. This practice provides a great deal of flexibility and increased efficiencies to a business that was until recently constrained by a single window of opportunity each year for smolt introduction to seawater.
On the marine farming side, Cooke Aquaculture Inc. was the first company to introduce high tech automated feeding systems to control feeding to minimize environmental impact and maximize feed conversion ratios. The company has carefully selected high energy, offshore sites and continues to experiment with design and materials to ensure the security of its farms. Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is the most vertically integrated North
American salmon farming company, producing a wide spectrum of products
from whole fish to fillets, portions, pre-cooked meals and smoked
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| remainder is shipped to Atlantic Fish
Specialties Ltd. (AFS) in Charlottetown, PE for further value-added
processing. Sales and marketing
for TNS is led by a team at Head Office in St. George, NB with
a number of satellite offices in New York, Chicago, New Jersey, Quebec,
and Toronto. Product lines have recently been expanded to include patés and mousses as well as smoked products through the acquisition of labels such as Culimer and Allavoix. The company is currently launching new ready-to-eat pasteurized lobster and mussel-in-sauce products and a new line of “Home Meal Replacements” (HMR) is on the drafting board. Vertical Integration: In keeping with its philosophy that integration and control of the product from egg to the marketplace is essential to remaining competitive in the global market, Cooke Aquaculture Inc. recently incorporated a transportation company, Shoreland Transportation Ltd., a fleet of boats and trucks responsible for moving the company’s goods from hatchery to cage site, cage site to processing plant and processing plant to marketplace. GMG Fish Services Ltd., another subsidiary provides a broad range of services and supplies to the Cooke Aquaculture Inc. group of companies as well as other companies in the industry. These include net manufacturing, construction and repair, cage construction and repair, construction of all components of a marine cage site, retail store providing clothing and other supplies for employees and vaccination services to hatcheries. Charlotte Feeds is the company’s producer of premium moist feed.
Cooke Aquaculture Inc. currently operates in all three Maritime Provinces, in the State of Maine and will soon begin operations in Newfoundland. The company has an annual payroll of $17 million and provides year round, full time jobs for approximately 450 people, many of them under the age of 40. A high percentage of these jobs are in rural coastal communities providing opportunities for young people to find employment in their home communities. Community Relations and the Environment. Cooke Aquaculture Inc. has taken the lead in both environmental and fish health management initiatives and has established an excellent record of compliance with the provincial government’s Fish Health Surveillance Program and Environmental Management Guidelines. In addition to compliance with these programs, the company has been a key participant in a number of research projects designed to bring much-needed knowledge and expertise in areas of environmental interaction and fish health. The company’s CEO, Glenn Cooke served for several years as President of the New Brunswick Salmon Growers Association (NBSGA) and as a Board member continues to provide leadership in advocacy work with both levels of government for essential programs for the industry. Company employees are encouraged to become active participants in the churches, sports teams and volunteer groups of their communities and the company has a significant sponsorship program whereby it regularly donates funds and products to community groups and other charitable organizations. Cooke Aquaculture Inc. achieved several awards from the business
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Career Opportunities
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Contact
Info: Cooke Aquaculture Inc. 1 Fundy Bay Drive St. George, NB E5C 3E2 Attn: Human Resources Fax: (506) 755-1340 Email: careers@cookeaqua.com |
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