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Fukui's Monthly News Letter
San Mateo Shellfish
Last October (1998) I attended the joint Pacific Coast Oyster Growers
Association (PCOGA) and British Columbia Shellfish Growers
Association (BCSGA) Conference in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
After the conference I was very fortunate to have the opportunity
to visit Brian Kingzett’s oyster and clam farm, San Mateo Shellfish,
in Barclay Sound on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.
I have known Brian for a number of years, both in a business
capacity and as a personal acquaintance. As it happens, Brian
and I not only share a passion for the aquaculture industry,
but also, when it comes to the fun (or getting in trouble, as
some might say) after the meetings, it might be said that Brian
and I have a lot of experience in this sector.
The tour of his farm started in Port Alberni at the end of a long
inlet centrally located on Vancouver Island.
We boarded at 8:30 on a windy wet night for the 2 ½ hour sail, guided
by GPS and radar to his float house located right at his farm,
which I would see in daylight the next day.
The trip was a new experience for me, as being out on a cold wet
night with poor visibility in an area that I was unfamiliar with
had me second guessing if it would not be better to wait until
daybreak.
Brian’s years of travelling the route and his faith in his 42’
converted tug boat, combined with pizza, Jimmy Buffett music, and
a few Coronas, soon got me feeling pretty comfortable, and at the
same time excited about this new adventure.
Everything went according to our itinerary, except for a near
altercation with an old fishing boat being side towed by a tug
without proper navigation lights.
Right on schedule we arrived at the float house of Stephanie Richards,
who works with Brian and skippers his boat.
Stephanie lives in the Bay next to the farm with her three children,
who go to school each day by school boat instead of school bus.
She was aware of our arrival in advance, and had some freshly baked,
still warm, sweet bread as well as a glass of wine waiting for
our arrival.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of a float house, it is exactly
that. Both Brian and Stephanie, and most of the people in the area,
live on/in float houses.
They are typically two story houses built on a raft made of a
number of giant logs, common to the forests in that part of the
world. They have all the comforts of a regular home, including
self contained electricity power units, fresh water supply from
a nearby creek, and propane gas supplied heating and cooking
appliances.
Chains moor the float homes to the shore, which allows movement
for the tidal range.
We left Stephanie's after a short stay, and within 10 minutes
arrived at Brian’s float house/shellfish nursery/work
center/transfer point/storage center etc., and retired before
midnight.
That night the wind coming off the Pacific was fierce enough to
move the house back and forth about 10o on a regular
basis. Under
these conditions - not being used to having my bed rotating on
a regular cycle all night - sleep was not easy. I only hoped
that it would blow over by morning so I could really enjoy this
part of the world.
Next morning, following my hopes, I awoke to blue skies, warm
temperature, and to some of the most incredible scenery and sights
I have experienced to date in this business.
Saturday is transfer day in San Mateo Bay, and most of the area
growers employ Brian to transfer their harvest of clams and oysters,
along with his own, back to Port Alberni for pick up by their
product broker, who had placed orders earlier that week.
Stephanie arrived for work just as Brian was hustling up some
breakfast, and I enjoyed my coffee, taking in all the happenings
around
the farm caused by nature, and awaiting the arrival of the other
growers with their market ready product.
Brian’s farm consists of a total of 3.15 hectares and is made up
of two deep-water sites of 6 to 8 feet deep for gigas oysters, as
well as one beach site for manila clams. The particular site that
the float house and farm is located on has a fresh water creek
running in at the end of the Bay.
This particular morning I was in for a treat from Mother Nature,
with salmon jumping at the mouth of the creek and eagles circling
overhead as the sun continued to clear the mountains.
As well,
much to my amazement, there were sea lions porpoising between
the long lines and buoys, chasing down a meal of a small long
fish much like a sardine, of which there were thousands in
the water at this time of year.
Brian has set up his farm to be in tune with nature as much as
possible, and also to make it blend in with the environment.
His long lines are floated with black buoys, with the exception of
sight markers for navigation; from less than a mile away the
black buoys were hardly noticeable.
Each line is straight, well anchored, and supports either Dark Sea
or the New Aqua Tech High Flow trays in stacks of ten- or seven-high
respectfully. These trays produce top grade oysters for the half
shell market.
The line also supports oyster sticks, which will supply product
for both the half shell and shucked market.
Hybrid seed are placed in the trays at about ¾". Over the next
twelve months they are rotated separated and sorted three times
before they are ready for market.
The ¾" seed is from a FLUPSY nursery at another site
(see the article
FLUPSY, it works!).
For the oyster sticks Brian has a remote setting tank into which he
introduces larvae for setting on banded groups of oyster sticks.
Once setting has been accomplished, the banded groups are placed
on one of his deep-water sites until they are ready to be harvested
as seed or hung on long lines.
Tidal timing controls the manila clam beach, so planting and
harvesting can be any time of the day or night, when
low tides make things workable.
Seed is planted on the prepared sand/gravel beach and then covered
with predation nets against crabs. Growout from planting is
typically years.
Attached to the float house is a work raft for cleaning, sorting,
bagging equipment, and preparations for day to day tasks.
After spending time observing farm operations and the arrival
of other area growers with their product to load on the transfer
boat, I assisted with the loading and then had a chance to taste
some fresh out of the water oysters.
As Stephanie left for the 2 1/2 hour sail on to Port Alberni,
Brian took me on his work boat for a tour of Barclay Sound and the
other aquaculture operations, which included Salmon hatcheries, a
shellfish hatchery and a number of other oyster grow out sites
using both raft and longline husbandry methods.
The remoteness of the area is such that there are a number of
fishing camps and logging camps and not much else. As a matter
of fact, jokingly Brian claims that he has a deal with the local
landowners who are lumber companies, in that he won't climb on
their trees if they don't walk on his buoys.
As we traveled back to Port Alberni admiring the awesome scenery
I missed on the night run down, there was evidence of past commercial
ventures of harvesting food from the sea. Canning factories from
the days of harvesting Pink and Chum Salmon have long since
disappeared; all that was left were hundreds of pilings,
which had a ghostly aura about them where they once supported
the factory buildings.
We met up with Stephanie again in Port Alberni just as the final
product was being off loaded, docked both the boats and headed
off to a local pub for a Saturday afternoon beer before heading
on our separate ways.
The growing business of aquaculture has its good days
and bad days. Spending a day with Brian Kingzett at San Mateo Bay
was certainly one of the great days! Thanks Brian, we
need more individuals like you in this industry.
Contact Don Bishop at:
Fukui North America
110-B Bonnechere St.W.
Eganville, Ontario K0J 1T0
CANADA
**NEW**Fax: 613-432-9494
Email: don@bishopaquatic.com or don@bishopaquatic.com
Copyright © 1999-2004 Fukui North America. All rights reserved.