East Coast Seafood production facility is located within a 204-acre Northern Harbour site on Deer Island, NB. With the space necessary for improved product traceability and access to pristine coastal waters, the company has begun to design a hatchery for enhancing wild stocks, and to establish alliances with existing lobster hatcheries and research programs in the Canadian Maritimes and Maine. The expanded company ultimately envisions releasing into regional waters one juvenile lobster for every frozen and live NW Atlantic lobster it procures ("1-for-1" initiative).
Parent company AHI, has funded and received the rights from hatcheries in the Maritimes to all the larvae they released prior to 2008, and to all larvae released during the next 5 years. The certificate it receives for each such release will provide proof that one juvenile has been released for each frozen lobster sold exclusively as a 1-for-1 lobster.
In an effort to protect the quality of the waters surrounding Deer Island (Passamaquoddy Bay) and the ecological integrity of all of its island acreage (including its Northern Harbour property, Lord's Cove plant, and Fairhaven site), a "conceptual master plan" is being developed for Northern Harbour. East Coast Seafood intends to lessen both the cost and environmental footprint of its Deer Island operations by reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, energy usage and waste stream while impacting the surrounding community in a positive way through educational initiatives, employment opportunities and renewable energy sources.
