The Center for Aquaculture Technologies (CATC) in Souris has finalized a deal to purchase the former Elanco facility in Victoria, P.E.I., which will allow the company to double the number of research trials it participates in annually.
"At the moment, we're running shrimp trials, salmon trials, trout trials, so, all these species Islanders will see on their plates, potentially," said Jason Cleaversmith, CATC's vice-president of health and nutrition and general manager for Canadian operations.
"We're hoping to improve the nutritional aspects of the feed and also to overcome bacterial and viral pathogens so there's better animal welfare and lower mortality."
The acquisition was agreed to in December, but it was only finalized on Feb. 21.
In October, Elanco Animal Health Inc., which has its headquarters in Indiana, announced it was closing the Victoria facility, affecting 15 jobs.
Cleaversmith said Elanco will be leasing part of the facility and about 10 people will be working in the new facility early on and more jobs will be added as operations grow. CATC, a research and development and contract research organization, has already hired seven Elanco employees who previously worked at the facility, and he is hoping to hire a few more because they already have the industry knowledge needed to meet quality standards from regulators. These jobs are in addition to the 20-25 people who work at CATC's 21,000 square-foot facility in Souris.
The 46,000 square-foot Victoria acquisition more than doubles the company's existing 21,000 square-foot aquaculture research facility in Souris, which was built in 2015. The company also has operations in San Diego.
The P.E.I. government provided CATC with a $4 million loan to support the Victoria facility purchase. “The Center for Aquaculture Technologies provides vital research and development for the aquaculture industry in our province,” said Minister of Economic Growth, Tourism and Culture Matthew MacKay, in a press release. “We are proud to support CAT’s expansion, that will keep jobs in the community.”
Cleaversmith said the plan is to have the research trials begin at the Victoria facility in the early part of the summer.
