Bankrupt Glovertown crab plant has new ownership, and town officials are hopeful

Terry Roberts · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 31, 2025 12:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

A crab works successful Glovertown that ran into fiscal occupation successful caller years is nether caller ownership — and plans to run the works this play hinge connected a quick approval from the provincial authorities to assistance a caller processing licence.

Terra Vista Limited has been a staple successful Glovertown's concern assemblage for decades, and was operated by the Oram household anterior to a alteration of ownership.

The caller owners were deed hard by a illness successful the crab marketplace successful 2022, and were incapable to recover. So 1 of Terra Vista's secured creditors, seafood elephantine Ocean Choice International, has taken implicit the assets of the Bonavista Bay plant.

Ocean Choice has partnered with a seafood harvester from Prince Edward Island named Leo Dorgan to signifier a associated task called 16771408 Canada Inc.

Ocean Choice and its partner took implicit the works aft Terra Vista breached assorted mortgages and indebtedness agreements, said Ocean Choice co-owner and president Blaine Sullivan.

"They were headed for bankruptcy and we were a creditor, truthful we acquired the assets for our debt," Sullivan told CBC News.

65 seasonal jobs successful the balance

The works operated past season, employing up to 65 people. It typically processes up to 1.5 cardinal pounds of crab annually, which makes it 1 of the smaller plants successful the province. In erstwhile years, overmuch of the crab processed astatine the Terra Vista works was imported from Prince Edward Island, and supplied by harvesters similar Dorgan.

"We surely look guardant to operating with [Dorgan] and doing what we tin to guarantee that that cognition works great," said Sullivan.

Sullivan said the caller owners person secured a reliable root of earthy worldly for the upcoming harvest, with a blend of crab from the Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador.

But successful bid to reactivate the plant, the caller owners request the provincial fisheries section to contented a caller processing licence. The exertion process is underway, and the timepiece is ticking, said Sullivan

"We're truly hoping to perceive [this] week for definite successful bid for america to beryllium capable to proceed the operation," helium said.

"The bankruptcy and the transportation of assets is truly wrong a fewer weeks of the season, truthful it truly would beryllium wrong the minister's discretion. So we surely would inquire him to reappraisal that, and we person asked the authorities to reappraisal it connected an urgent basis, fixed the play is astir the corner." 

Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne was not disposable for an interrogation connected Monday.

Ocean Choice could easy sorb the measurement of crab usually processed successful Glovertown at its existing plants successful Triton, Bonavista and St. Lawrence, but Sullivan said helium wants to sphere the jobs successful Glovertown, and sees a aboriginal successful the Terra Vista operation.

"The installation is successful rather bully shape. We've reviewed it and went done it and it's really acceptable to run, arsenic is," said Sullivan.

Sullivan praised the plant's workforce and the section absorption team, and said the works has a bully estimation for precocious prime crab.

Glovertown is simply a municipality of conscionable nether 2,000 residents, according to Statistics Canada. It's located 60 kilometres eastbound of Gander.

Mayor Doug Churchill said the works is important to the town's economy, and helium hopes to larn much astir the caller owners' plans for the works during a telephone telephone connected Tuesday.

"We're hoping that he's going to archer america that [Ocean Choice] is present for the agelong haul. That's truly what we need," said Churchill.

"We surely look guardant to operating with him and doing what we tin to guarantee that that cognition works great."

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