AquaBounty eyes international expansion

A company that grows genetically-modified salmon on P.E.I. is planning major expansions in North Americaand beyond.

Massachusetts-based AquaBounty produces eggs for its GM salmon in Bay Fortune, in eastern P.E.I. The salmon are grown out in Indiana and at a smaller operation in Rollo Bay, P.E.I.

In an investor seminar this week, President and CEO Sylvia Wulf said its first large-scale harvest, 54,000 salmon, would happen this fall from its operation in Indiana.

The AquaBounty salmon are genetically engineered to grow twice as fast as regular farmed salmon. They are produced in enclosed, inland facilities.

The company is planning a communications and social media campaign to help sell the fish.

Wulf said AquaBounty wants to build a new plant somewhere in North America that would have ten times the grow-out capacity of the plant in Indiana. It's looking at possible sites in Ontario and nine U.S. states.

The proposed plant would have ten times the production capacity of the Indiana plant, which is 1,200 tonnes a year.

The company is also exploring building another four plants in other parts of the world -- possibly in China, Israel, Brazil and Argentina.

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