BC Shellfish Growers Association

Editor’s note: The below post is from an email by Lisa Mijacika, announcing the next round of AIMAP funding.  It is posted here as notice to the shellfish farming industry in BC of this fantastic opportunity for funding innovative / clean technology / increasing productivity projects.

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With the first round of FY 09-10 wrapping up, it gives us great pleasure to launch the second round for this fiscal year of the Aquaculture Innovation & Access Market Program (AIMAP).  Therefore, we are now accepting new proposals for fiscal year 2009-10. The final day for submissions is MAY 26th, 2009.  Attached for your information are the updated applicant guidelines including DFO innovation priorities (click here for PDF file) for this year.  For more information on the program, please consult the AIMAP website.

For all applicants in Pacific Region, I would like to provide some additional information to assist you with your submissions.  There is approximately 1 million remaining within the program for this fiscal year, allocated on a national basis.  Please be advised all proposals are evaluated based on the criteria and project approval assessment components located on page 5 and 6 of the guideline referenced above.  You must address all of the criteria in your proposal.

For all submissions please calculate your contribution requirements as follows:

• 75% of eligible expenditures = AIMAP amount requested divided by the total of all eligible expenditures for your proposal (refer to section 5 of the guideline).  Generally, proposals requesting less than 75% AIMAP funding (either through multiple funding sources or proponent input) will be ranked more favourably in the evaluation process.  For example, ineligible expenditures would include but is not limited to payment for cultured animals/organisms as part of the proposal.
• During our evolution of eligible costs; the department may also use this 75% eligibility toward a particular expense or expense category (i.e. purchase of equipment).
• % cash contribution = applicant (proponent) cash divided by AIMAP request multiplied by 100. Minimum is 10%.  Higher than 10% will be ranked more favourably.

Other criteria to ensure you cover include:

• Any costs associated with human resources must be directly associated with the innovative proposal.  Annual salaries with no clear linkage to the innovative elements of the proposal are not eligible.  Please be clear in demonstrating this in your proposal.
• Complete all budget requirements including full list of expenditures.
• Performance measures must be specific, clear and identified in proposals as part of the technical evaluation of your proposal and must be directly linked to issues and objectives.   For example, for a proposal that has increased productivity as an objective, you would need to provide a base productivity  (productivity now=1000 tonnes) and a percent increase expected with the innovation proposal implemented (after project completed productivity=1200 tonnes).  Use of quantities are preferred as they are measurable and can be reported on, more subjective measures can also be proposed if appropriate.
• We would also like to emphasize the need to undertake a regulatory scan (as part of basic eligibility of the criteria and project approval) to ensure your proposal meets basic eligibility requirements.  For example, demonstrate that you have local government, provincial government and federal government approvals in place or know what is needed and how you will work to get all approvals prior to initiating your project.  Provide a schedule of regulatory approvals including approval dates or expected approval dates.

Please contact March Klaver for any finfish proposals at 250-720-4445 and Lisa Mijacika for any shellfish proposals at 604-666-6894 to discuss proposals prior to the submission deadline.  All final submissions in Pacific Region must be sent to: amdpacific@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.  Please do not send any final submissions directly to Andrew Thomson, March Klaver or Lisa Mijacika.  Submissions cannot be modified after the submission deadline.

I invite you to share this information with all industry stakeholders and look forward to working with you.

Regards,

Lisa A. Mijacika

A/Shellfish Advisor 
Aquaculture Management Division

Fisheries & Oceans Canada

Phone (604) 666-6894 of Fax: ((604) 666-1076

15 acre Oyster and Clam farm located at Twin Islands.  It consists of 12.54 acres of deepwater with huge flow and 2.53 acres of dynamic intertidal beach.  The tenure is currently renewed until 2022.  There are 22 existing rafts plus a harvesting raft and the site is approved for 60 rafts under the current management plan.  There are over 6,000 20 ft. strings in the system with another 2,000 to be added in 2009.  The farm is serviced by a 30 ft. aluminum work boat with bow cabin, 20 ft. mast and boom and is powered by two brand new 90 hp. Honda outboards.  The business has secure markets and its own brand name.

Twin Islands is located just south of Cortes Island in the middle of the Strait of Georgia, yet the farm is well protected at the north end of the Islands.  It has extremely high biophysical capability.

The price is flexible and depends upon the terms negotiated.  Interested parties can contact Grant Webb at- Phone: (250) 935 6546 / Fax: (250) 935 0050 / Email: oystergrant@yahoo.ca

The BCSGA is proud of our Quarterly Tidelines Newsletter… this is our way of promoting BC shellfish products and celebrations, communicating current events and research & development projects, and updating industry stakeholders on all things BC shellfish.  This one was hot off the press a week or so ago – and our apologies to advertisers for the unanticipated delay, but we’re proud to publish it today.

Hard copies, as always are in the mail to our 160+ BCSGA member companies.  Click here to view our latest edition Tidelines – Spring 2009.

Well, we had a great turnout, and half decent weather for the 3rd annual Earth Day Baynes Sound Shellfish Farming Industry Beach Clean-Up.  About 30 people showed, including volunteers from industry, families new to Courtenay, and four staff from the BC Ministry of Agriculture & Lands – a huge thanks to all that participated!  We collected about one and a half bins full and we reckon the beaches of Baynes Sound are in decent shape for the upcoming summer season.  However, we remain vigilant and will continue our ongoing regular beach clean-up activity,

Thanks to Al, Brian, Bill, and Alex for coming out on their day off!  Much appreciated.

Great fleet.  This is the end of the day Beach BBQ at the park N of Bulkley Bay.

Courtenay resident, Ken who brought his family, and David McCallum (at right) enjoy a beverage.

Diane and Greg – who has been an excellent steward of the Sound for the past three years.

The Bin at the end of the day.  Whew.

And finally, I thought I’d share the letter to the Editor of the Comox Valley Record:

Dear Editor:

It is no secret that the shellfish farming industry is responsible for much of the equipment and debris that is found on the foreshore and beaches of Baynes Sound.  Despite this industrial issue, shellfish growers are hard-working people who live here too, and are proud of the lifestyle and living that their employment provides.

In claiming responsibility for marine environmental stewardship, growers and residents alike turned up over 30 strong to participate in our Earth Day annual industry-wide Baynes Sound beach clean-up event, held Sunday April 19th.  While we may not have cleared every last piece of plastic or rope from the Sound, we feel very good about the state of the beaches in advance of the summer season.  We are committed to regular ongoing clean-ups throughout the year and ask residents to call the BC Shellfish Growers Association office to report debris at any time – (250) 890 7561.

Many thanks again to all who participated and had a great time doing it!

David McCallum
R&D Coordinator
BC Shellfish Growers Association
T: (250) 890 7561

Mark Dewey has put together a fantastic video of good music and great images of the shellfish farming industry in Puget Sound.  Happy Friday, all!

“Shellfish Farmer” music video from Marc Dewey on Vimeo.

Hi David,We’re looking for 20 round lantern nets (photo below) for our cockle project. They have to be exactly 50 cm in frame diameter and 6 or 9 mm in mesh size. It appears really difficult to find any on the island – I’ve tried Summer Breeze, Netloft, and Island Scallops, but no luck so far…

Would you have a suggestion on who might have these nets? Used ones in good shape would work for us.
Thanks a lot for your time,

Anya (Anna) Epelbaum, PhD
Scientific Researcher
Centre for Shellfish Research
Vancouver Island University
900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo BC, V9R 5S5
Phone: (250)740-6584

Great work and congratulations to all who participated in the Active Malaspina Mariculture Association (AMMA) Okeover Inlet beach clean-up on Marcj 26th, 2009.  This event drew at least 10 boats and over 30 people… talk about getting the job done right!  Photos below are taken at the end of the day when the boats congregated and transferred the broken equipment and beach debris into dumpsters.

While the shellfish industry is not proud of these gear losses, it is clear that we take responsiblity and conduct our own cleanup activities, regardless of any regulatory enforcement.  Stay tuned for a Baynes Sound beach cleanup on April 19, 2009.

Above – a great turnout of boats and people.   In the photo at far right, those are a couple of local legends of the BC shellfish farming industry – Hugh MacDonald (at L) and Bob Paquin (at R).

Below – and here’s part of what was harvested from the beaches – two bins, one for garbage, and one for metal and plastic recycling.