Layoffs to follow salmon farm sale

Harbour deLoutre Products, a fish farm company on Campobello Island, was recently sold to Ocean Horizons of St. George. Ocean Horizons is owned by the Larry Ingalls family. Negotiations for the sale began in 2007, with the transfer taking place on February 1.

Harbour DeLoutre is a major employer for many full-time site workers and part-time processing workers. Larry Ingalls indicates that there will be some layoffs. "At this time of year, layoffs are expected and, for some workers, it may only be for about a month or two, until April or May." The part-time workers probably will be laid off, as there will not be regular salmon processing at the plant. Not many layoffs are expected among the site workers. Ingalls has two other salmon sites located around Campobello, and he says that if necessary he will transfer workers from the Harbour deLoutre site to his other sites. "Good farm workers are hard to find, and we don't want to lose them," he remarks.

Ingalls says that Harbour deLoutre will continue its present operations for now. There has been no processing of salmon at Harbour deLoutre since last summer, and this year's harvest had not been started when the sale of the company took place. No decision has been made yet about the processing of salmon at the Campobello plant. The Ocean Horizons processing plant in St. George has up-to-date processing equipment, and most of the salmon processing will take place there. Ingalls says that the Campobello plant will still be used to process Harbour deLoutre salmon at times, as well as being used in the event of emergencies or during shutdowns at the St. George plant.

Harbour deLoutre is currently processing halibut one day a week at the plant, but this is the last of the halibut to be processed, as halibut production is being phased out.

Harbour deLoutre, which raises salmon and also has raised trout and halibut, was started by John Malloch in 1980. Malloch was an icon in the salmon business and has been greatly missed by his colleagues and co-workers since his death in 2006. Malloch dedicated his life to the raising of salmon. He designed his own cages and made his own feed for the salmon for years. The Malloch family says that the decision to sell Harbour deLoutre was a hard one to make.

Ingalls says that he plans to invest in Harbour deLoutre, bringing in more equipment and modernizing the plant. Ocean Horizons does not expect to change the methods used to raise salmon at Harbour deLoutre. Ingalls comments that John Malloch and grandson Jeremy Henderson had a successful way of running their farm and that way will be maintained.