MACHIASPORT (AP) – Atlantic Salmon of Maine has shut down its processing plant, but continues to grow salmon in its fish pens offshore.

Atlantic Salmon’s parent company, Cooke Aquaculture of St. George, New Brunswick, shut down the plant last month, putting 19 people out of work.

Nell Halse, spokeswoman for Cooke, said the company made clear its intentions to close the 28,000-square-foot processing plant after it bought Atlantic Salmon last spring from Norwegian-owned Fjord Seafood USA. The plant remained open processing smoked salmon until last month, she said.

Even though the plant has shut down, Atlantic Salmon has fish pens in Maine waters and a fish hatchery in Oquossoc, she said. The company has 28 employees in Maine, including cage site workers, divers and boat operators.

“We aren’t leaving Maine,” Halse said.

Atlantic Salmon of Maine was started in 1987, making it one one of the state’s oldest aquaculture companies. It employed 200 workers at its peak, but fell on hard times because of fish disease and litigation.

Cooke Aquaculture has more than 450 full-ime employees and annual sales of more than $100 million (Canadian).

The company last spring stocked its Maine pens with more than 1 million fish that will grow to market size in two years, Halse said.

A decision will come later on whether to process those fish in Maine or at Cooke’s production plant in New Brunswick. She said it is important that the company streamline its operations.

“We don’t know what the future will be,” Halse said. “We stocked some fish last spring, so we have a couple years to see what our resources are, in terms of human resources and assets.”

The company is interested in purchasing the pier that is located adjacent to the processing plant. Even with the processing plant closed, Cooke needs the pier to maintain its fish pens, Halse said.