in Advocate Harbour, described as “the only land-based organic aquaculture facility in the world.”
“It was an opportune time to take a break from production and focus on expansion,” said Lebrun, who’s been representing Cape d’Or for six years.The Merlin family has been involved in aquaculture for several decades, moving operations inland about 15 years ago, but they took a while to narrow their focus.
“Now, the finished product was wonderful but, at some point, you have to look at your business and decide what makes the most sense to do. And salmon made the most sense. With an environmental footprint that LeBrun describes as “almost nonexistent” compared to cage-raised salmon, Cape d’Or’s dozen employees produce salmon with an annual value of $4 million to $4.5 million and that has been certified organic since 2019.“The goal is to be twice that in the next year or two. We want to ramp up in a way that we’re not suddenly flooding the market; we want to grow the market as we expand our production.