Seafood company plans to rebuild fire-razed plant in N.L. town by next year

BAY DE VERDE, N.L. – The Newfoundland company whose seafood plant was destroyed by fire in April says it plans to have a new processing facility ready for production by next year.

Quinlan Brothers Limited says in a news release that the company has worked with snow crab producers since the fire to ensure that fish harvesters have been serviced as normal.

The company also says that other companies have helped provide employment to “practically all” of the 700 workers who were employed at the Bay de Verde plant.

Quinlan Brothers says remediation at the Bay de Verde site has been completed, along with geotechnical surveys and infrastructure assessments, and foundations and site work could begin in the next 10 days.

The fish plant, an economic engine for the seaside town, was left a smouldering ruin after a fierce blaze erupted on April 11.

Fisheries Minister Steve Crocker, whose district includes Bay de Verde, said the plant is the province’s largest snow crab producer and processed about seven million kilograms last year.