BC Shellfish Growers Association

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A Taste of Okeover
By Isabelle Southcott

Spring sunshine warms my back as I settle myself in Don Carto’s boat to begin a tour of Okeover Inlet. As I look at the cottony clouds skittering across a brilliant blue sky, I am reminded again of how lucky I am to have a job I love-a job that lets me see the wonders of our region and meet people I probably wouldn’t otherwise meet.

Carto is a commercial diver and president of the Active Malaspina Mariculture Association. He also sits on the board of directors for the Okeover Harbour Authority. There’s a sign at the top of the road that leads to Okeover proclaiming it as the Oyster Capital of Canada but Carto says that Okeover is about more than just oysters-it’s about shellfish.

“Shellfish are filter feeders,” he explains “and not all shellfish in the aquaculture industry live on the bottom; we have other housings for them.”

By other housings, he doesn’t mean a skyscraper on Bloor Street in Toronto or an oceanfront home in Powell River, but rather a method of housing oysters, mussels, scallops, and clams as they grow.

Oyster Bags

The shellfish industry is a renewable, sustainable industry. Shellfish take in particulates, filter them out and clean the water. The industry is important to Powell River’s economy. There are 25 licenses for growing shellfish in the Okeover area alone with 11 licenses in the area owned by Taylor Shellfish, the largest shellfish farming company in North America, with headquarters in Shelton, Washington State. One of the licenses that Taylor bought in Okeover belonged to Chris Day and now he is a manager for the company.

The Taylor family have been in the shellfish business for 125 years and they bought their first lease in Canada in 2003.

“Washington State was always very strong in shucked oysters. They have the shucking grounds in the Olympia Peninsula although they have gradually been going to singles because they are worth more money right now,” said Day.

But not everyone is pleased that foreign investors are buying those individual licenses. “There’s a worry from some of the old time farmers that they will come in and take over,” Carto says, noting that Taylor has its own processing plant nearby, at Fanny Bay Oysters on Vancouver Island. But for some farmers, who are interested in retiring, Taylor has provided them with the opportunity to sell out so they can retire. Carto admits that it is tempting; foreign investors have approached both him and his partner, too.

Growing shellfish involves several different stages, beginning with the purchase of “seed” from a hatchery. It is then brought home and put in housings, which can vary depending on the farmer. “There are china nets, lantern nets and trays,” says Carto. It takes anywhere from 12 to 18 months to grow extra small oysters that can be sold, and up to four or five years to produce jumbo oysters.

Carto and his partner Karen King have a shellfish farm called C-King in Trevenon Bay. They have eight licenses and grow oysters, mussels, scallops, clams, sea cucumbers, green urchins, red algae and kelp. They’re licensed to grow sea grass but right now they have their hands full doing what they’re doing. The couple are the first in BC to do mariculture symbiotically in one spot.

At their farm, they grow nearly one million oysters (82,000 dozen) annually and if everything works out, they are sold for $3 a dozen. But predators, such as starfish (who eat two oysters a day), can really eat into grower’s profits.

Although Carto has been shellfish farming for less than 10 years, he says he loves the lifestyle. “I love everything about it. It’s really no different than living in town. We have a washer and a dryer and a fridge and a stove and have the same frustrations with Internet and satellites.”

They live off the grid and have a power generation system that works off their water supply from Wednesday Lake. Because the Sunshine Coast Trail winds its way just behind their lease, they often have visitors drop in to visit. And while they access their farm only by boat, they are just one hour from the city.

Many people seeking an alternative lifestyle gravitated to oyster farming in this area in the early 1960s. Carto and his partner are now offering shellfish interpretive tours in order to educate people about the industry and offer tourists something else to do while in the area.

O is for Okeover

Not far from the government dock is the Grace Harbour Oyster Company Limited. This processing plant is owned by First Nations and managed by Bob Paquin, a well-known name in the industry and one of the founders of AMMA many years ago.

Upon entering the Grace Harbour Oyster Company, visitors are instructed to dip their feet in a bath to remove any impurities.

Paquin is away so his second in command, Mike Williams, tells me about the plant. “We have 10 people working here, six shucking and four sorting.”

“The faster you can process your food the better,” notes Carto. Williams says you have only 15 minutes to get oysters into a cooler from the time you get them out of the water if the water is over 15 degrees and one hour if the water temperature is under 15 degrees.

The Grace Harbour Oyster Company has six beach leases and their crews work the beach picking wild oysters. They process 200 baskets every two or three days, with 75 oysters in each basket.

The Anchor

Once the oysters are sorted, shucked and washed, they are put into containers and then jars. From there, they are boxed and sent to wholesalers, mostly in Vancouver, although Grace Harbour Oysters are available locally at Turner Bay Seafoods and The Chopping Block.

Oyster season usually runs from April through to the end of September. Shutdowns depend on what the PSP (Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning) count is. When this count is above 80 parts per million, a red tide warning is issued and shellfish are not safe to eat.

As we chug past Coode Peninsula and into Trevenon Bay, we come to Yves and Ria Perreault’s oyster farm. Yves is passionate about oyster farming; Ria runs Little Wing Farm on land. The Perreault’s farm is dotted with bouncy bags, a method Yves favours for growing cocktail oysters. The bags are tied between lines and bounce when the waves hit them, which stop the shells from attaching to each other.

Further down the inlet, Taylor Farms employee Megan Doyle is doing some old-style shell setting called culching because the shucker market has started to climb again.

Washington State was always strong in the shucker market but growers gradually grew more singles because they were worth more money. “Now it’s beginning to come back,” says Day. “And there’s every reason to believe the shucker market should be very strong in BC in the next few years but it will take several years to get back to full strength if it ever does.”

Automation means increased efficiency in the industry. When a harvester is used, tube clusters of oysters can be stripped quickly so instead of stripping one bag a day the old fashioned way, workers can strip 25 to 30 tubes a day!

Meanwhile, Day says that BC’s oyster sales amount to about only three per cent of the world market yet consumers love BC oysters. “There’s lots of potential there for growth,” says Day, pointing out that the cold, clear, pristine waters grow a top quality oyster. “Other parts of the world are hungry for our product, BC oysters are known as being the best.”

“The Chinese market is one of the biggest markets because of their population and the fact that seafood is their number one choice,” said King while cooking a seafood feast of mussels, oysters, and scallops served up with homemade bread and a mouth-watering dessert of rhubarb cobbler.

Scallop

King and Carto are working on marketing their interpretive shellfish tour business. They envision bringing groups of tourists, locals and school children to the inlet to a round pen they will use as a tour station that will house the different varieties of shellfish grown on the farm. Of course, there will be an octopus as no tour is complete without one.

The world is hungry for BC shellfish and with the 2010 Olympics quickly approaching; growers know their products will be in demand.

The Industry

Cultured and wild shellfish production rose in value four per cent from $190.7 million to $198.4 million and represented 15 per cent of the value of all BC seafood in 2007. Crab products led the way followed by geoduck clams and prawns with cultured oysters being the fourth largest commodity in shellfish products with $20.4 million in sales and cultured clams next with $11.2 in sales according the BC Seafood Industry’s 2007 Year In Review. China is the world’s largest and fastest growing seafood market.

Fresh from the Ocean

Al Sharpe and his wife Amy have a special arrangement when it comes to oysters. Al owns an oyster lease in Okeover. Amy owns Manzanita Restaurant. Al supplies Amy with fresh oysters.

“I feel strongly about local food and encourage local production for three reasons,” Al said. “It’s good for the environment, it’s good for the economy and it’s good for our health.”

Seafood is a specialty at Manzanita and although the restaurant is known for its oysters, scallops and mussels are also offered depending on availability.

When Al and Amy were first married in 2001 they lived in Okeover. Al recalls bringing his new wife to Okeover from San Francisco and how they celebrated New Year’s Eve on the beach picking oysters.

Although oyster farmers farm their leases, some also buy seed and load their old oysters shells and any others they have, into a boat and bring them to Pendrell Sound. There, they set their shells to spawn with natural larvae. Pendrell Sound is a south facing sound that has minimal tidal flow so the water is warm. “It’s an appealing micro climate for oysters that induces spawning.”

Although this method is weather dependent, people have been gathering larvae in this way for years. “The larvae are there so if you set your shells in a favourable place they’ll set on your shells,” says Al.

Lund Shellfish Festival – May 22-24

Want a taste of what’s growing in Powell River waters? Then come out the Lund Shellfish Festival May 22-24.

Last year’s inaugural celebration was such a hit, the Lund Community Society, Active Marine Mariculture Association and local Lund businesses are hosting the second annual celebration of nature’s bounty and everyone is welcome!

The festival kicks off on Friday, May 22 with the Lund Community Social held at the Lund Community Center at 6 pm.

Saturday, May 23 is Market Day in Lund. Look for music, Sliammon cultural events, cooking demonstrations, oyster shucking demos, arts and crafts, kids’ corner and of course yummy shellfish delicacies to nibble on. Don’t forget to sign up for the oyster or prawn plant tours being held on Sunday or sign up for a clam digging or Lund historical walking tour.

Sunday, May 24 is Tour Day as well as the shellfish competition-come see the local shellfish farmers compete for the best looking or biggest oyster, scallop, clam or mussel. Tours include a historical walking tour, zodiac tours and kayaking tours. To avoid disappointment, book tours ahead of time. You will also be able to take home live shellfish offered by local farmers.

Come out to Lund and experience a celebration like no other on the peninsula! For a full schedule of events and contacts for booking tours, visit the web site, lundbc.ca or lundcf.org.

Harvesting Seafood

“When the tide is out, the table is set.”

This First Nations saying refers to the many species of shellfish that come into view at low tide. In Powell River you can find everything from oysters clinging to rocks, to clams buried beneath the sand, to mussels and scallops. However, before you head off to pick oysters off the beach, you must get a license.

Licenses are available at many retail locations. For more information visit Fisheries and Oceans Canada office at 7255 Duncan St, Powell River or call 604 485-7963, or try the website at www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca.

You might also want to pick up a copy of Rick Harbo’s A Field Guide to Seashells & Shellfish of the Pacific Northwest from Harbour Publishing. This great little guide is filled with fun facts and is a good resource for beachcombers of all ages.

The Okeover Dock

Keeping the dock at Okeover in good working order is important for those who work the waters in the area and for pleasure boaters alike. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans recently funded $600,000 on upgrades and locals say that people from Powell River aredriving out to Okeover to launch their boats now.

Getting oysters and shellfish to a processing plant as quickly as possible is important and a good dock is all part of the picture.