3.1M from Quebec for the Cap Dauphin expansion project

The provincial government grants a $3.1 million loan to the Coopérative de pêcheurs Cap Dauphin for its expansion project.

The Minister of Economy and Innovation, Pierre Fitzgibbon, was in the Islands to announce the financial assistance from Investissement Québec.

The construction of two new livewells equipped with a shower system, the first phase of the large-scale project, is 90% complete, said Ruth Taker, general manager of the cooperative.

She explains that the lack of space is at the origin of the approach and that the recent installations will allow her, in the long run, to double her lobster storage capacity, currently at 600,000 pounds.

The second phase of work will be the addition of an automated sorting room and mechanical equipment in the fall, while a phase 3 is in the works.

Ms. Taker adds that with the positive signals of the last few years in the industry, both from the lobster fishermen and the resource, and the incredible start of the 2022 season, the issue of extending the Havre-aux-Maisons airstrip must once again become a priority.

Note that the total cost of the project is nearly $8.8 million.

The Coopérative Cap Dauphin has already obtained a $200,000 grant from the Programme d’immobilisation en entrepreneuriat collectif as well as financial support from the federal government.