Meet Brodie Ward, Site Manager Of The Nova Scotia Blue Island Salmon Farm
HALIFAX — Brodie Ward’s favorite part of his job is when he gets to handle the fish. Luckily for Ward, this happens more often than your typical nine to five when you manage a 20-cage salmon farm.
“When you look at the big picture, it’s kind of cool to grow salmon,” said Ward. “You get to see right from when they are small all the way till they get pulled out of the water and sent to be somebody’s food.”
Brodie Ward is site manager of the Blue Island salmon farm, an uninhabited island in southwestern Nova Scotia. Ward is originally from Ontario and attended Fleming College for aquaculture in the School of Environmental & Natural Resource Sciences before he started working for family-owned Cooke Aquaculture.
“They hired me right out of the gate, and I’ve been here for the last three years now and I love my Cooke career,” said Ward.
As site manager, he manages the day-to-day operations on the farm, covering everything from hands-on processes to paperwork. Spring and fall are his busiest seasons.
“There is so much going on in our weekly and monthly operations that you really have to be able to manage your time well and get things done in order,” said Ward.
Ward manages one of the largest salmon aquaculture sites in Nova Scotia. He has a team of three employees on-site to always make sure the fish are in good health and to help keep the farm equipment in tip-top shape.
“You’re site manager, but you’re also part of the crew,” said Ward.
On Blue Island, they run a unique feeding operation. They have a feed barge, which is like an ultra-modern home with storage space that can hold up to 300 tons of salmon feed. Through this, all the fish are fed using wireless remote technology by a central operations team in Bridgewater.
“The way it works is we have feed pipes that come off the front of the barge and each cage has its own pipe and on the program that they use, they can feed each cage individually,” said Ward.
We have surface and underwater cameras in the cage that are running 24/7 so they can always see the fish and monitor how they are doing and that they are eating precisely the right amount without wasting feed.”
This technology allows the fish to feed on days where poor weather may prevent sea farmers from getting out on the ocean safely. In addition to eliminating food waste, remote feeding also means that staff take fewer trips out to the barges, cutting fuel usage and emissions – all of which contribute to Cooke’s sustainability goals. But different feeding techniques are not the only change Ward has seen in the last few years.
“From when I first started, everyone has gotten together and realized that safety is a priority, especially working on the ocean 24/7 all year round,” said Ward.
With government regulations on aquaculture, third-party audits to maintain certifications, and a farm management plan in place by the company, Ward said there are many policies and best practices they have to follow to operate in compliance and he believes aquaculture in Nova Scotia has the potential to grow responsibly.
“Nova Scotia seems to be really hurting for work in general,” said Ward. “Other than the lobster industry there’s a lot of just seasonal stuff in Nova Scotia and we’re one of the only industries working year-round every day all day.”
When moving to Nova Scotia, Ward joined a tight-knit community up and down the coast. He is seeing first-hand how aquaculture can create great jobs for these small towns and attract young people like him to the province.
“Aquaculture is really an untapped area,” said Ward. “And if it’s continued to be done sustainably, it could be a really good economic boost for Nova Scotia.”
This story is sponsored by Cooke Aquaculture.