A shellfish aquaculture company headquartered in Prince Rupert hopes to have 15 million farmed scallops in the ocean this year.
香蕉视频直播淭hat香蕉视频直播檚 one, five million,香蕉视频直播� 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) |
香蕉视频直播淩ight now there are about 4.5 to 5 million scallops in the water grown over the last five or so years,香蕉视频直播� 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 they香蕉视频直播檙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 they香蕉视频直播檙e kept protected in saltwater ponds for further rearing.
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With their pond progeny multiplying, it香蕉视频直播檚 good timing that Coastal received its shellfish processing licence this week. Although, CEO Michael Uehara said it could have come in a bit sooner.
香蕉视频直播淭here香蕉视频直播檚 a labyrinth of regulatory stew that香蕉视频直播檚 really difficult to get through,香蕉视频直播� Uehara told the Northern View. 香蕉视频直播淚 think this is the first licensed shellfish plant in 13 years or something.香蕉视频直播�
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 香蕉视频直播� their favourite place to view their progeny. (Karissa Gall/The Northern View) |
香蕉视频直播淰ery few people in Canada know how to do a processing licence for shellfish, so if you call [the Canadian Food Inspection Agency] 香蕉视频直播� they香蕉视频直播檒l tell you to get a consultant,香蕉视频直播� Uehara said.
香蕉视频直播淭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.
香蕉视频直播淚 would rather it be the last day of taxes at 4 香蕉视频直播榦 clock in the afternoon and I had forgotten to file last year香蕉视频直播檚 taxes than go through this with a year-and-a-half,香蕉视频直播� he said.
However, Uehara added it香蕉视频直播檚 important to remember what the process is for: ensuring the health of Canadians and compliance with international regulations.
香蕉视频直播淚s it a daunting task? It certainly is,香蕉视频直播� he said. 香蕉视频直播淪hould it be less daunting? I don香蕉视频直播檛 know.
香蕉视频直播淪ometimes these things do exist to ensure the well-being of people.香蕉视频直播�
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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.
香蕉视频直播淔or us to be their first official local buyer, it means a lot to us and I香蕉视频直播檓 so honoured and humbled,香蕉视频直播� said chef Dai Fukasaku. 香蕉视频直播淚 just got my first delivery [Tuesday] and the great thing about it is it was harvested [Monday], so it香蕉视频直播檚 probably the freshest scallops ever.香蕉视频直播�
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 they香蕉视频直播檙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 they香蕉视频直播檙e doing their own processing, Uehara said they香蕉视频直播檙e going to create more jobs 香蕉视频直播渢hat involve a lot more technological competence.香蕉视频直播�
| 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) |
香蕉视频直播淭here are not a lot of fisheries that are expanding and this one is,香蕉视频直播� he said. 香蕉视频直播淎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.香蕉视频直播�
Uehara said they expect to be able to offer competitive wages out of the profitability of their product.
香蕉视频直播淪callops are one of the highest-valued seafoods you can have,香蕉视频直播� 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. 香蕉视频直播淚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.
香蕉视频直播淎s things stand right now we香蕉视频直播檙e comfortable being the vertically-integrated organization that grows this industry,香蕉视频直播� he said. 香蕉视频直播淏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.
香蕉视频直播淎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,香蕉视频直播� he added.
香蕉视频直播淭he thing about scallop aquaculture or shellfish aquaculture is it香蕉视频直播檚 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.香蕉视频直播�
karissa.gall@blackpress.ca
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