Pendrell Sound Project

 

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada initiated a program in the last few years offering grants to people in the Aquaculture / Fishing industry to develop innovation ideas.  Successful applicants were to follow guidelines to increase production and operational efficiency, to improve industry health and product quality, including supply of progeny, to improve environmental performance, using alternate energy sources or more efficient energy use.

The program was called A.I.M.A.P. {Aquaculture Innovation & Market Access Program}

Aphrodite's Garden Oyster Co. was successful in creating a Proposal which attracted the attention of those in charge of awarding grants under this program.  During the twelve months of the Project, we implementd the steps necessary to carry out our plan for oyster seed collection in Pendrell Sound with methods for single seed grow-out to access the "singles" market.  Once set, most seed will normally mature in clumps of two or three oysters, which are suitable for selling already shucked.  Single seed can be grown into single oysters much more readily and both are highly marketable.

The objective of the project was to produce high quality oyster seed from natural spatfall in Pendrell Sound and make it available to growers at a lower cost.  Our innovative methods greatly reduce the carbon footprint of seed production by reducing or eliminating reliance on energy intensive hatchery operations.  We included the use of recycled and reused materials, energy efficiency, reduction of invasvie species and waste management controls.
Included in our project priorities is the monitoring, collation and sharing of data on oyster spat sets in Pendrell Sound.

 

 

Completion

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The Project was completed as scheduled with results mostly as predicted.  We were not able to collect the larvae in quantities that were suitable for market, however those that were collected grew out on the collector medium to a reasonable size, as expected.

The second year shows much improved quantities as we have become accustomed to using the techniques developed.  The goal of saleable amounts seed will certainly be in place by the fall of 2013.

The mechanisms which we developed for processing the larger seed oysters will facilitate fast efficient production line retrieval in preparation for market.


We would like to thank A.I.M.A.P. and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada for their generous support for this useful and innovative research project.  It would not have been possible to the extent that it happened without their input.