By Amy Woolvett
THE COAST GUARD
The municipality of Shelburne is looking on ways to capitalize on the expansion of aquaculture in the region.
“We want to ensure that this becomes an industry-wide initiative and not just a Cooke’s initiative,” said Kirk Cox, CAO for the Municipality of Shelburne.
“We are looking at a series of projects that council will evaluate to create a stronger industry,”
One project already on the books is the development of Shelburne’s Industrial Park with a recent investment by the municipality of over $1.5-million.
They are working toward purchasing 50-acres of land from the province and creating serviced, subdivided lots and roads.
“In order for something to go there it needs to be developed,” said Cox.
He said that the first step would be to service the land and then the municipality would actively pursue development opportunities.
“We think that there will be a demand to serviced land across Shelburne Harbour,” he said.
Work on servicing the land will begin as soon as this summer.
Cox said that with Cooke’s expansion in Shelburne there will be many opportunities for spin off companies and work including ice production, packaging and research and the municipality wants to work toward facilitating the various levels of the supply chain that is expected to crop up.
“We want to be able to support the industry as a whole,” he said. Already the municipality has been in talks with the local community college in bringing more aquaculture-based learning opportunities to its course load.
“This will not just be a fish plant (coming to the area) but it will bring with it an industry that can be diverse…we want to take this opportunity and continue to broaden it throughout the community,” he said. “The potential of aquaculture here is unlimited.”
