The harbour authority in Souris, P.E.I., says it's in discussions with a client that it hopes will fill 23,000 square feet of underused space in a former fish plant.

CEO Denis Thibodeau said the space, which is currently used for storage, makes up roughly a third of the space in the Souris Harbour Industries facility. About one third is being used by The Centre for Aquaculture Technologies Canada (CATC) and another third is used as a refrigerated warehouse by the authority under the name Eastern Cold Storage.

Thibodeau said he couldn't say who the potential client is while negotiations are still ongoing, but said the area in the former plant could be used a number of ways — with power, heating and refrigeration available.

"It could be storage, it could be manufacturing, it could be some type of fish processing, lobster processing. It could be [a] lobster holding facility. So there's quite a few [types] of businesses that could move in there," he said.

Depending on what kind of facility moves in, it could employ between 10 and 30 people, he said.

The aquaculture research centre in the building employs 21 people, and Thibodeau is hoping for something similarly positive.

"Anything that could go in that space that would do similar kind of employment would be very nice for the town of Souris," he said.