Failed fish plant up for sale in Nova Scotia

The assets of a failed Nova Scotia fish plant are up for sale, including its most valuable asset — the right to catch 20 per cent of the Canadian quota for silver hake.

The liquidation of Meridien Atlantic Fishing and Rocky Coast Seafoods ends a short and unsuccessful foray into the Nova Scotia seafood business by a Quebec shipyard.

Meridien Atlantic and Rocky Coast went under, owing TD Bank $6.4 million.

The bank successfully petitioned them into receivership in March.

On April 21, TriNav Marine Brokers listed the assets for sale: a fish plant at Comeauville, its flash freezer, 7.7 hectares of undeveloped waterfront at Church Point, buyers and processors licences and 3,175 metric tonnes of silver hake quota.

About 59 per cent of the quota is assigned to licences held by the companies. Third parties hold the rest in escrow.

Gaspé shipyard foray into Nova Scotia

Angello Marcotte, the owner of the Gaspé shipyard, established both companies in late 2019 at Comeauville in Digby County.

Marcotte runs Méridien Maritime Réparation, a shipyard and ship repair business at Matane, Que.

The plan was to fish silver hake with a vessel built at the Quebec shipyard and process it at the plant in Clare, N.S.

Silver hake is a whitefish and a relative of cod sold in southern Europe.

Receivership documents say the companies experienced financial challenges and the Comeauville operation closed its doors in February 2022.

In 2020, the company said it was partnering with Membertou First Nation, which had formed a company Membertou Meridien Fishing Limited Partnership.

The government money

A Membertou spokesperson did not respond to a CBC question about the relationship. Marcotte did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Meridien Atlantic and Rocky Coast received approximately $700,000 in federal financial assistance.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is a Rocky Coast unsecured creditor for $250,000.

Documents list the "Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans" as an unsecured creditor of Meridien Atlantic for $107,000.

The assets also include 13 metric tonnes of unspecified groundfish quota and a multi-unit rental property with four apartments next to the plant in Comeauville.

About silver hake

The final bid deadline is June 16 with a decision on successful bids by July 24.

The business plan hinged on silver hake, an abundant groundfish off Nova Scotia.

It remains in the healthy zone, according to the 2023 DFO science stock assessment.

The overall Canadian quota has been 15,000 tonnes since 2003 although far less is actually caught because of weak market conditions.

This is the second collapse of a business dedicated to silver hake in the last decade.

In 2013 Blue Wave Seafoods, at Port Mouton, N.S., went under owing its biggest creditor — Nova Scotia Business Inc. — $3 million. The fish plant filed for bankruptcy shortly after receiving a $500,000 loan delivered on the eve of the 2013 provincial election.