Shellfish aquaculture coming to British Columbia's Central and North Coast
As part of a deal worked out between the B.C. Government, First Nations, forestry companies and some environmental groups, funds are being made available for the development of certain sustainable industries in return for large tracts of the coast being given some form of protection against logging and other industrial activities. Shellfish aquaculture is considered an appropriate activity, and preparations have been made to move this industry forward in a big way.
Using other funding sources, a number of pilot projects were initiated by two First Nation groups some five years ago. The Turning Point Initiative Society (TPI) and the Tsimshian Stewardship Committee (TSC) have united 16 individual First Nations in the establishment of 22 shellfish test sites in order to identify the most promising species of shellfish to grow. A group of 17 students from these Nations are now enrolled in a training course at Malaspina University College in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. This college is also the home for the B.C. Center for Shellfish Research.
A variety of shellfish species and deep-water culture techniques have been tested at each experimental site. Pacific Oysters were grown in two types of stacked trays, and in string-cultch methods, while Blue and Mediterranean mussels were both grown in High Flow trays. Japanese scallop juveniles were seeded into Pearl nets. Three species of kelp were also tested at four sites. Seed from the same sources were deployed at each site and were monitored almost simultaneously.
The main source of funding for the establishment of commercial-sized operations is envisioned to be a fund of some $CAD 120 million, to be provided by an American philantrophic foundation and the B.C. and Canadian Governments. The foundation money was promised when the B.C. Government agreed to set aside huge portions of coastal lands as part of a land-use plan covering the so-called "Great Bear Rain Forest". Logging companies were also forced to go along, under threats of European market boicotts, imposed through the activities of B.C.based environmental groups.
