A shellfish aquaculture company headquartered in Prince Rupert hopes to have 15 million farmed scallops in the ocean this year.
B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 one, five million,B次元官网网址� Provan Crump confirmed over the noise of pumps and running water at the hatchery on Wednesday, Feb. 27.
Crump is the hatchery manager of the First Nations-owned Coastal Shellfish company. Originally from Australia, he worked in commercial oyster hatcheries in Hawaii before coming to Coastal.
| Coastal hatchery manager Provan Crump shines a light on shellfish eggs as small as grains of sand in one of their 25,000-litre tanks. (Karissa Gall/The Northern View) |
B次元官网网址淩ight now there are about 4.5 to 5 million scallops in the water grown over the last five or so years,B次元官网网址� he said. But they are spawning more.
They have nine, 25,000-litre tanks that hold thousands and thousands of eggs as small as grains of sand.
The eggs grow with as little bacteria as possible (Crump drops the tanks through tight screens every few days to keep water quality high) and are fed house-grown algae for 21 days until they are ready to metamorphosize into sedentary animals.
| Adult-size Great Bear scallops at the Coastal Shellfish hatchery. (Karissa Gall/The Northern View) |
When theyB次元官网网址檙e strong enough to attach onto a kelp-like material, they enter into the nursery, grow, are graded and either go out to an ocean farm site where they filter feed in 12-layer, circular longline nets, or theyB次元官网网址檙e kept protected in saltwater ponds for further rearing.
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With their pond progeny multiplying, itB次元官网网址檚 good timing that Coastal received its shellfish processing licence this week. Although, CEO Michael Uehara said it could have come in a bit sooner.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a labyrinth of regulatory stew thatB次元官网网址檚 really difficult to get through,B次元官网网址� Uehara told the Northern View. B次元官网网址淚 think this is the first licensed shellfish plant in 13 years or something.B次元官网网址�
He said they started looking at the licence about five years ago, but the initiative died due to internal focus on farm stocks and a lack of external supports for the regulatory process.
| Coastal hatchery manager Provan Crump (left) and CEO Michael Uehara peer into their saltwater ponds B次元官网网址� their favourite place to view their progeny. (Karissa Gall/The Northern View) |
B次元官网网址淰ery few people in Canada know how to do a processing licence for shellfish, so if you call [the Canadian Food Inspection Agency] B次元官网网址� theyB次元官网网址檒l tell you to get a consultant,B次元官网网址� Uehara said.
B次元官网网址淭here are a couple [consultants] in Canada that are fairly overtaxed, so in the end you have to devote almost a full-time person to study this on quite a high level to get it done.
B次元官网网址淚 would rather it be the last day of taxes at 4 B次元官网网址榦 clock in the afternoon and I had forgotten to file last yearB次元官网网址檚 taxes than go through this with a year-and-a-half,B次元官网网址� he said.
However, Uehara added itB次元官网网址檚 important to remember what the process is for: ensuring the health of Canadians and compliance with international regulations.
B次元官网网址淚s it a daunting task? It certainly is,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淪hould it be less daunting? I donB次元官网网址檛 know.
B次元官网网址淪ometimes these things do exist to ensure the well-being of people.B次元官网网址�
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After Coastal acquired its processing license, Fukasaku of Prince Rupert was the first client to buy live adult scallops from them.
B次元官网网址淔or us to be their first official local buyer, it means a lot to us and IB次元官网网址檓 so honoured and humbled,B次元官网网址� said chef Dai Fukasaku. B次元官网网址淚 just got my first delivery [Tuesday] and the great thing about it is it was harvested [Monday], so itB次元官网网址檚 probably the freshest scallops ever.B次元官网网址�
Going forward all of the Great Bear brand scallops will either be sold live in B.C. or fresh shucked on the west coast of North America, according to Uehara.
| After they're grown and graded, Coastal's Great Bear brand scallops go out to an ocean farm site where they filter feed in 12-layer, circular long line nets. (Karissa Gall/The Northern View) |
He said theyB次元官网网址檙e still fleshing out their distribution method for Prince Rupert, but they will open sales to local markets in the next month or so.
The new licence and more markets also mean more jobs.
Coastal currently has about 40 employees, 75 per cent of whom are First Nations.
Now that theyB次元官网网址檙e doing their own processing, Uehara said theyB次元官网网址檙e going to create more jobs B次元官网网址渢hat involve a lot more technological competence.B次元官网网址�
| Coastal's broodstock system adds to the sustainability of the operation. Hatchery manager Provan Crump says they need to cool the water where their broodstock live, and with this machine, the heat produced by the cooling is captured and used to warm water where larval rearing takes place. (Karissa Gall/The Northern View) |
B次元官网网址淭here are not a lot of fisheries that are expanding and this one is,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淎long with that expansion I think is also the creation of jobs that are jobs of the future in this industry and they will be jobs that require a pretty high component of technical abilities.B次元官网网址�
Uehara said they expect to be able to offer competitive wages out of the profitability of their product.
B次元官网网址淪callops are one of the highest-valued seafoods you can have,B次元官网网址� he said, adding that their farm gate price will be somewhere between $1.70 and $1.90 per scallop.
| Currently Coastal's most productive ocean site, an experimental Metlakatla site from about 15 years ago, is a two-and-a-half-hour boat ride away. B次元官网网址淚t ends up being about $350,000 a year just to access that site," says CEO Michael Uehara. Currently Coastal is angling to acquire a new site just 2 km from the hatchery. (Karissa Gall/The Northern View) |
Ultimately, the proximity of future sites and the arc of the industry will factor into just how many jobs Coastal creates.
B次元官网网址淎s things stand right now weB次元官网网址檙e comfortable being the vertically-integrated organization that grows this industry,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淏ut in 10 years this may evolve into a hatchery producing seed for growers, it could evolve into a processing facility for people who are farming their product and bringing it in.
B次元官网网址淎s we are a First Nations-owned industry, our shareholders are anxious to build this company, but they have a long-term view of growing an industry,B次元官网网址� he added.
B次元官网网址淭he thing about scallop aquaculture or shellfish aquaculture is itB次元官网网址檚 environmentally restorative, and I think this is about restoring an economy of inclusion for First Nations on the North Coast, and also about restoring the oceans in which it happens.B次元官网网址�
karissa.gall@blackpress.ca
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