In 1976, John Risley and Colin MacDonald established Clearwater with a pickup truck, a vision and a lot of entrepreneurial drive. Today the Nova Scotia company has grown to become the largest holder of shellfish licenses in Canada and one of the world’s leading seafood companies.

Though methods change, and the creaking of oars and wind-filled sails have been replaced by state-of-the-art vessels, the spirit of fishing remains in one of the world’s oldest and most abundant fishing grounds. We operate a fleet of traditional and state-of-the-art factory vessels and processing plants throughout Eastern Canada.

Our focus has always been to provide premium quality, wild, sustainable seafood, second to none. We will always strive to find new and innovative ways to serve our customers and responsibly harvest shellfish – but you can rest assured our focus will never change.

Macduff Shellfish Group (“Macduff”), one of Europe’s leading wild caught shellfish processors, has entered into an agreement for 100% of the assets of Macduff to be acquired by Canadian-based Clearwater Seafoods (“Cleawater”) for £98.4m from the Beaton family and Change Capital Partners, the specialist pan-European private equity fund.

Based in Mintlaw, near Peterhead in Scotland, Macduff has factories in Mintlaw, Stornoway and Exeter and owns and operates 14 mid-shore scallop harvesting vessels from its Dumfries facility.  It employs approximately 400 people at the seasonal peak, specialising in scallops, langoustine, whelk and crab.

 

 

 

Nova Scotia-based Clearwater is one of North America’s largest vertically integrated seafood companies, employing approximately 1,400 people, delivering premium wild seafood including scallops, lobster, clams, coldwater shrimp, crab and groundfish.