Family Passion with Global ambitions.
For us, fishing and farming isn’t just a business – it’s who we are. It’s an undying family passion that began when our grandparents began fishing the waters of the Bay of Fundy six generations ago. And while times have changed, our commitment hasn’t. Like our ancestors, we’re obsessed with finding better and smarter ways to bring you the very best seafood in the world.
Our secret to producing quality farm-raised salmon, wild-caught salmon, scallops, oysters, shrimp, sea bass, sea bream, crab, and other value-added products is simple. It’s a generations-old family passion and our customers can taste the difference.
We operate in pristine marine environments, rely on science and experts to ensure sustainability, use feed from sustainable resources, and constantly search for ways to reduce our carbon footprint. We’re proud of the fact that we don’t take shortcuts. And we’re confident our customers can taste the difference.
Our Mission
To cultivate the ocean with care, nourish the world, provide for our families and build stronger communities.
Our Guiding Values
- Belonging to a ‘greater’ family
- Respect for people and their hard work
- Diversity and acceptance of all
- Betterment of individuals and communities
- Accountability on land and at sea
The Cooke Story: From Small Family Company to Global Seafood Leader
In 1985, our family decided to take control of our own destiny by establishing Kelly Cove Salmon. What started as a humble family aquaculture company with a single marine site has grown into a global seafood leader with fully-integrated facilities, product lines and distribution networks.
In recent years, we have embarked on an aggressive plan for growth, including acquisitions and an ongoing strategic search for development opportunities. With recent acquisitions of the Wanchese Fish Company, Icicle Seafoods, Cooke Uruguay and Omega Protein, we have further diversified our product offering and expanded our seafood assets into the wild fishery.
We have also recently welcomed to our family of companies, Seajoy, one of Latin America’s largest producers of premium farmed shrimp, Morubel, the leading shrimp processor in Western Europe, and Tassal, Australia’s largest, vertically-integrated seafood producer.
An obsession without limits
There’s just no telling where the passionate pursuit of freshness and variety will take you. In our case, it’s led us to establish operations in nine countries around the globe, and harvest more than 25 core species of fish.
But wherever your seafood comes from, you can be sure that it’s produced by caring people in thriving communities. We are a company of 10,000 employees. We live and work in the communities where we fish or where we farm. We bring prosperity to coastal communities and take pride in bringing you fresh, high-quality seafood.
Corporate Timeline & Key Achievements
The Cooke family’s entrepreneurial spirit has taken the company upstream over the past 30 years – through the industry’s early development to today’s modern, sophisticated food production industry.
Glenn, Michael and Gifford Cooke establish first farm at Kelly Cove, New Brunswick.
Purchase of first hatchery at Oak Bay, New Brunswick.
Incorporated Cooke Aquaculture Inc.
Cooke establishes True North Salmon, begins processing, marketing and distributing salmon under True North Salmon brand in Canada and US.
Establishes GMG Fish Services Ltd.
Acquires Atlantic Fish Specialties Ltd. in Prince Edward Island, expands value added.
Acquires Grand Isle Fish Farms Ltd. in New Brunswick.
Acquires Saddle Island site in Nova Scotia.
Acquires Di-Anna Aqua Inc., Double O Fish Ltd. and Rattling Beach Farm Ltd. in Nova Scotia.
Establishes Shoreland Transport.
Acquires Fundy Salmon Ltd., L&J Salmon Ltd., Silver Hatchery.
Acquires Jail Island Aquaculture in New Brunswick.
Purchases Charlotte Feeds.
Purchases Atlantic Salmon of Maine.
Acquires East Coast operations of Heritage Salmon.
Acquires East Coast operations of Marine Harvest (formerly Stolt Sea Farm).
Receives Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies designation.
Begins expansion of Newfoundland and Labrador operations.
Acquires former Shur-Gain Aquaculture feed plant in Truro NS to establish Northeast Nutrition Inc.
Achieves Seafood Trust eco-label certification.
Acquires AC Covert Distributors.
Acquires Salmones Cupquelan S.A., in Chile.
Acquires Ocean to Ocean, an importer, frozen seafood distribution and marketing company.
Acquires Culmarex S.A., the largest sea bass and sea bream farming operation in Spain.
True North Salmon processing facilities certified to British Retail Consortium (BRC) Standard for Food Quality and Safety.
Salmones Cupquelan, earns Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification in Chile.
Cooke achieves Canada’s Best Managed Companies Platinum Club member status.
Glenn Cooke is featured on the TV show Undercover Boss Canada.
A.C. Covert of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, launches Jail Island brand for wild-caught seafood.
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Dalhousie University create Cooke Industrial Research Chair (IRC) in Sustainable Aquaculture with Dr. Jon Grant.
Cooke achieves Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification for North America.
Cooke acquires Meridian Salmon Farms Limited (now Cooke Aquaculture Scotland).
Cooke family creates Cooke Seafood USA Inc. and acquires the Wanchese Fish Company.
Cooke Seafood acquires Icicle Seafoods, Inc.
Cooke Seafood USA acquires Grinfin, a hake fishery subsidiary of Fripur based in Argentina.
Cooke family acquire the assets of Fripur S.A., and establishes Cooke Uruguay.
Cooke Aquaculture Chile acquires Marine Harvest processing plant in Tepual, Chile.
Cooke Inc. acquires Omega Protein, a nutritional product company and a leading integrated provider of specialty oils and specialty protein products.
Cooke acquires The Fish Company, a Florida based seafood distribution company.
Cooke Aquaculture Inc. is named the winner of the 2018 Private Business Growth Award.
Cooke acquires Seajoy Food Corporation Group, one of the largest vertically integrated, premium shrimp farms in Latin America
Cooke acquires Farallon Aquaculture de Nicaragua S.A., a vertically integrated producer of farmed shrimp and a leading supplier of branded fresh-frozen shrimp.
Cooke acquires All Seas Wholesale, Inc., a California based seafood distributor of up to 40 species of fresh seafood, live shellfish, and frozen products.
True North Seafood, Inc. the processing division and flagship brand of Cooke Inc., acquires the business of Mariner Seafood, LLC, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Mariner, an international fresh and frozen seafood company, specializes in processing a broad range of premium wild and farmed species including scallops, haddock, cod, salmon and shrimp.
Shoreland Transport, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cooke, acquires Nova Scotia-based Connors Transfer Limited, a trucking and transportation company with a fleet of 143 trucks and 261 trailers with four terminal locations.
Cooke acquires Morubel, the leading shrimp processor in Western Europe that cultivates, processes, packs and distributes shrimp and other seafood products.
Cooke and Ganong, two well-known, entrepreneurial New Brunswick family companies, team up to strengthen and grow Canada’s oldest candy and chocolate company.
Cooke Inc. acquires Tassal Group Limited, Australia’s largest vertically integrated seafood producer which distributes and processes salmon, prawns and other seafood in fresh, smoked, and frozen categories.
Family of Companies
