MI Establishes New Regional Aquaculture Centre in Coast of Bays

A new centre has been established to support the rapidly growing aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays region on Newfoundland’s South Coast.

The Coast of Bays Regional Aquaculture Centre (COB-RAC), a unit of the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, is ideally positioned to better meet the training, research, development and technology transfer needs of the expanding aquaculture industry and to address the training needs of the broader maritime industry in the Coast of Bays region.

The Centre was established with financial support from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation and the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources.

The establishment of the physical location of the Centre’s office in St. Alban’s took place over the summer of 2017. By September, the two-person staff at the Centre was in place.

Keith Rideout serves as the Centre’s Coordinating Instructor/Technical Liaison and Bill Carter serves as the Regional Industrial Liaison Officer. On October 18, the COB-RAC hosted an open house and invited representatives from industry, supply and service companies and government departments to visit and learn more about the role of the Centre and what it can offer to industry.

The Centre is the gateway in the Coast of Bays to connect the Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University and the regional aquaculture industry. The Centre operates along with the Institute’s Centre for Aquaculture and Seafood Development (CASD) to facilitate research and development initiatives and works closely with the Institute’s Community Based Education Delivery Unit (CBED) for the delivery of short-term education and training programs.

Marine Institute’s Bill Carter (centre) and Keith Rideout (right) are looking forward to working closely with the sector in Coast of Bays.

The Coast of Bays Regional Aquaculture Centre can design and deliver training programs to meet the needs of the aquaculture industry in the Coast of Bays region.

Using labour market research and through identification of skills development gaps, the Centre can develop customized, community-based training plans for clients. Training options may consist of certificate programs or single course offerings. In all cases, offerings are based on needs specifically identified by the client.

Programs currently available include:

• Technical Certificate — Aquaculture (TCA)
• Technical Certificate — Aquaculture Management (CAM)

In addition, the COB-RAC staff will be a conduit to reach schools in the region, targeting students, administrators, guidance counsellors and parents to provide career exploration opportunities and create an awareness of the careers available in the aquaculture industry.

With its location on Marine Drive in St. Alban’s, COB-RAC is ideally situated to address the needs of the aquaculture industry in the region.

In terms of applied research and development, the COB-RAC, in conjunction with the CASD team, will offer a range of services for the aquaculture industry. These will include identification of technical needs, proposal development, funding procurement and applied research. This applied R&D falls broadly into these categories:

• environmental monitoring
• sea lice management
• waste management
• industry liaison
• other R&D opportunities and challenges that arise

COB-RAC can be reached by emailing: keith.rideout@mi.mun.ca or william.carter@mi.mun.ca