Tag Archives: Oysters

Fisheries

Oyster Farmers taking a beating

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Oyster farmers know grit can make for a good pearl. But shellfish farmer Victor McLaggan’s tenacity is being tested as the pandemic continues to hobble the restaurant industry, the main source of his income. McLaggan’s niche market is selling direct to high-end restaurants across Canada, ones with tide-to-table ethics that want to know exactly where their product is coming from. But like most producers of smaller live oysters destined for the half shell, McLaggan says he’s taking a beating as COVID-19 protocols continue to force eateries to limit operations or shut their doors altogether.

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Fisheries

Not many upsides for shellfish aquaculture

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National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Marine heat waves, ocean acidification, toxic algae blooms.

B.C. oyster farmer Steve Pocock said he can’t see many upsides for shellfish aquaculture when it comes to dealing with the effects of climate change.

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Fisheries

Coming Soon: the European Green Crab

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Cynthia Bendickson believes an ecological battle along the inside passage of Vancouver Island is looming. It’s not a question of if, but when the invasive European green crab will land on the shorelines of the Salish Sea, says the biologist and executive director of the Greenways Land Trust.

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Fisheries

Early Warning System For farmed Oysters

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Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Editor’s note: According to the BC Shellfish Growers Association: “the most prolific areas for shellfish farming have been Baynes Sound, Cortes Island and Okeover Inlet.” The Shellfish industry is one of Cortes Island’s largest employers. Twenty-two people were working at Island Seafarms when the COVID crises began and a skeleton crew is preparing for next year. There are also a number of independent contractors in the Bee Islet Growers Corporation, in Gorge Harbour, and other lease holders around the island.

A Vancouver Island researcher is developing an early warning system to prevent the contamination of farmed oysters along B.C.’s west coast, which can cost the industry millions.

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Environment

Mike Moore Talks About The Waters Around Cortes Island

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Originally posted on Cortes Radio.ca

Mike Moore obviously has an intense passion for the ocean and for the waters around Cortes Island in particular. He has been working on the water or under it for more than 40 years, as a commercial halibut, crab and prawn fisherman, as a diver harvesting sea cucumbers, sea urchins, scallops and the giant pacific octopus, as a Navigation Officer with the Canadian Coast Guard for 11 years and finally, along with Samantha Statton, he was owner/ operator of Misty Isles Adventures, Cortes Island’s kayaking and passenger schooner tourism business, which was the vessel by which many tourists and locals got to appreciate Cortes as an island, seen from the water.

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