New aquaculture barge boosts local businesses

The accommodation and fish feed storage barge is the biggest concrete float ever built by Pacific Marine Construction and will include state-of-the-art technology used for raising BC salmon.

The float house will soon be moved to one of Marine Harvest Canada’s (MHC) salmon farms in the Port Hardy area. Construction of the barge has provided an economic boost to local trades on Vancouver Island, and to secure the barge on site, other local businesses have been contracted to provide services such as towing, anchoring and commissioning.

MHC Marine Projects Manager Dave Pedersen said the work of local contractors had been exceptional. “It is on time and budget, despite being the biggest concrete barge we’ve ever built and having a new design with a walk-around apron to improve safety.”

The large size – featuring eight bedrooms – will ensure comfortable accommodation for operations personnel and contractors. Farm employees have separate rooms, desalinated and hot water on demand, improved anchoring, and a safer design for feed storage.

Pacific Marine Construction owner Cory Handyside said it took four and a half months to build at his shipyard at Discovery Harbour. “It was a very rewarding project to work on. We had a crew of 10 people on it full time to build such a big float house, battling weather and tight timelines. It took excellent teamwork,” he said.

Another Campbell River business benefitting from the build is Powerserve Energy, which installed the electrical and communications hardware including the Steinsvik feed delivery and monitoring system.

Powerserve Energy owner Stefan Schedler said his firm’s experience in providing power generation and electrical support for the aquaculture industry continues to grow. “This is a challenging and highly specialised field, we’re very grateful for the industry as well as our dedicated and skilled team of technicians here in Campbell River who can successfully execute this often difficult type of work.”