I rise in the House today to provide Honourable colleagues and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador with an update on Cooke Aquaculture�s operations on the province�s south coast.

At the present time, Cooke Aquaculture is employing 165 individuals full-time at the Harbour Breton processing facility. This includes plant management staff and persons working on harvesting vessels. In the coming days, an additional 10 -12 seasonal positions will be made available at the plant. In addition to that, the company�s farms in the region are employing 100 people on a full-time basis.

The total direct employment with Cooke operations is now approaching 300 people.

These employment levels are well above those projected by Cooke Aquaculture prior to beginning operations in Newfoundland and Labrador. This is tremendous news for the people of Harbour Breton and indeed the people of the south coast as a whole.

In October 2006, our government was pleased to announce, under the Aquaculture Capital Equity Investment Program, a contribution of $10 million toward Cooke Aquaculture�s endeavours in our province. And we are certainly delighted with the very positive impact that the company and indeed our investment is already beginning to have on the Connaigre Peninsula.

All agreements between the Provincial Government and Cooke Aquaculture have been finalized, and $7.5 million of our investment has been provided to the company. The balance of government�s investment will be delivered upon the completion of a hatchery by Cooke in this province. To date, Cooke�s investment in our province exceeds $40 million.

Our government continues to make strategic investments into our aquaculture sector and the results have been tremendous. A key piece of our investment has been the establishment of the Aquaculture Loan Guarantee Program, a tripling of the funding for aquaculture in 2006 and over $14 million for aquaculture in 2007.

Such investments have played a key role in the growth of the Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture sector. By the end of 2008, the production and value of the industry will have doubled from 2005.

Our government has shared with industry the vision that Newfoundland and Labrador has the wherewithal to create a viable, self-sustaining and self-financing aquaculture sector. When industry needed working capital and equity financing, we developed the appropriate programming to provide it. Indeed, we have shared in the vision and we have certainly shared in the risk.

We acknowledge that our industry still faces many challenges but we are encouraged by the success achieved to date. We anticipate further good news over the coming months.

I ask all honourable members to join me in celebrating the successes of our aquaculture sector and in wishing Cooke Aquaculture and the people of the south coast all the best in the future.