As the proposed Samonix land-based salmon farming project enters Québec’s BAPE environmental review process, many Pontiac residents are trying to better understand what exactly Samonix is proposing to build, and how the proposed operation itself would function.
According to the project documentation, Samonix Inc. is proposing to construct a large-scale land-based Atlantic salmon farming facility within the Pontiac Regional Industrial Park in Litchfield, Québec. The company says the project aligns with Québec’s biofood policy and is intended to supply locally produced Atlantic salmon to markets in Québec, Ontario, and the northeastern United States.
Unlike traditional ocean-based salmon farms that raise fish in open-water net pens, the proposed facility would operate entirely on land using a Recirculating Aquaculture System, or RAS. This is a highly controlled indoor fish farming method in which water is continuously filtered, treated, oxygenated, and reused rather than constantly replaced. Salmon would be raised inside large tanks housed in industrial buildings, with pumps, filters, sensors, oxygenation equipment, and biological treatment systems operating continuously to maintain stable water quality and growing conditions.
Samonix states that the project is designed to produce an average of 10,000 metric tonnes of Atlantic salmon per year, with a maximum production capacity of 12,000 metric tonnes annually, representing roughly 2.8 million fish. The overall project would also include the supporting facilities needed for processing operations, and the full facility footprint is expected to cover about 5.6 hectares.
The diagrams included in the project documentation show that the operation would be laid out as a series of connected production and treatment zones. These would include the hatchery stage, where eggs would be received and incubated, followed by the early fish stages, including alevins, fry, and juvenile salmon, before the fish move into the adult grow-out or finishing tanks. The schematic also shows separate handling areas for eggs, salt, and other inputs, along with an area for fish manipulation and a separate line for domestic water use.
The documentation also states that salmon production would occur in two separate water environments. Early life stages would be raised in freshwater, while later grow-out and finishing stages would take place in brackish water designed to more closely replicate natural salmon conditions.
To support that production cycle, the facility would require substantial infrastructure. The documentation indicates the presence of a river water intake, a river water treatment system, a main production building, an effluent treatment building, pumping equipment, oxygen generation systems, liquid oxygen storage tanks, a treated-water basin, and a sanitary water treatment system. The map also shows a sediment retention basin, access roads and parking areas, a work zone under construction, a guard post, and other support structures. The project would therefore operate as an integrated industrial facility with multiple interconnected systems.
Water management is one of the central features of the project. The diagrams show that water would be drawn from the Ottawa River, treated, and circulated through the aquaculture system. Inside the facility, water would pass through multiple treatment stages as fish move through each production phase. The system also includes a denitrification unit to reduce nitrogen compounds, as well as a treated-water basin prior to final discharge.
The water intake would be located approximately 160 metres from shore at a depth of roughly 10 metres. The intake pipeline would reportedly be installed primarily through directional drilling in order to reduce disturbance to the riverbed and surrounding aquatic habitat. The company also states that specially designed intake screens would be used to reduce the risk of fish entrainment or impingement at the intake structure.
Before entering the aquaculture system, river water would undergo several treatment stages, including coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, and disinfection. This treatment process is intended largely to reduce organic matter naturally present in the Ottawa River.
Samonix says its RAS technology is designed to recycle approximately 99 percent of the water used in the facility, significantly reducing overall water consumption compared with conventional aquaculture systems. Even so, the operation would still require a continuous intake from the river to account for water losses, cleaning, sludge handling, and other operational needs. In that sense, the Ottawa River would remain an essential input source for the operation.
Because the facility is designed as a high-recirculation aquaculture system, most waste generated by the operation would be separated and managed through dedicated treatment streams rather than discharged directly into the environment.
Solid waste collected from the fish tanks, primarily fish feces and uneaten feed, would be filtered from the water and processed as sludge. That sludge would then be compacted and dewatered before being transported in sealed containers to a specialized biomethanation facility in the Montérégie region of Québec. There, the organic waste would undergo anaerobic digestion to produce renewable natural gas and agricultural fertilizer products.
Once the salmon reach maturity, processing would also take place on-site. Some fish would be prepared as fillets, while others would be sold whole and gutted. Fish viscera would be treated through ensiling for off-site reuse, while fish mortalities would be stored in sealed containers before being transported off-site for further handling.
The remaining wastewater that cannot be continuously recirculated within the facility would undergo multiple treatment stages before being released back into the Ottawa River. Freshwater and brackish wastewater streams would initially be treated separately using nitrification, denitrification, flotation, and filtration systems before undergoing a final combined disinfection stage prior to discharge. The treatment process would include biological filtration systems designed to reduce ammonia and nitrogen compounds, phosphorus removal, pH adjustment, and sterilization systems intended to eliminate pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Following treatment, the effluent would be discharged through a submerged outfall pipeline equipped with a diffuser system designed to promote rapid dilution within the receiving waters.
Taken together, the proposed system is designed as a closed-containment production model in which water, waste, and energy flows are continuously managed through engineered treatment systems rather than direct environmental release. While the project documentation outlines multiple layers of filtration, recycling, and mitigation measures, many of these systems operate continuously and at industrial scale, relying on uninterrupted power, monitoring, and mechanical performance.
As the BAPE review process continues, understanding how the proposed system is designed is only one part of the broader picture. Equally important is where the project would be built, and how the site’s geography, industrial history, and proximity to the Ottawa River may influence both its operation and its impacts. The next article will examine the location of the proposed facility in Litchfield’s Pontiac Regional Industrial Park, including the surrounding land use, nearby communities, and the site’s historical development over time.