Northern Harvest Smolt Ltd. wants to increase salmon aquaculture in Stephenville

The deadline for submission of public comments is September 13th and the minister’s decision is due September 23rd.

An environmental assessment project has been registered with government concerning an expansion of the Indian Head Hatchery in Stephenville. Northern Harvest Smolt Ltd. wants to improve production capacity and quality of salmon smolts produced and increase salmon aquaculture production for the province. The dept of Environment and Climate change issued a statement to BayFm news. It says, “The Environmental Preview Report is required to inform a decision on the potential environmental effects of the project on the marine environment, including the marine transport of additional smolts from the hatchery expansion to sea cages and the transferring, rearing, and harvesting of those smolts in sea cages. The report will be reviewed by an Environmental Assessment Committee made up of representatives of Federal and Provincial Government departments with regulatory, scientific, and technical expertise in the subject matter. The report will be subject to a 35 day public comment period, including notification to Indigenous communities of the opportunity to review and submit comments to the minister.  The deadline for submission of public comments is September 13th and the minister’s decision is due September 23rd.