Transcript – Prince Edward Island Aquaculture: New life for rural communities

---

Prince Edward Island Aquaculture:  New life for rural communities

[music]

Linda Duncan, Executive Director, Discover Mussels [0:11]
The year-round employment, I think, is something that people really didn’t realize when the whole mussel industry started to grow here.  Early days, often the mussel farmers were traditional fishers and mussel-farmed on a part-time basis. 

Call out: Mussels account for over two thirds (68%) of all shellfish production in Canada.

As our industry has grown, and in order to grow 41 million pounds a year, you can’t just work at it part time.  You need full time employment and even in the winter, when they are not winter harvesting, all of that time is spent on getting ready for the next season.

Call out:  In 2009, Canada produced 24,000 tonnes of mussels with 77% coming from PEI.

Winter Mussel Harvesting

Linda Duncan [0:55]
The market demands a product 12 months of the year.  And, in order to do that, the hardship our growers go through is quite amazing.  There are a couple of methods that are used now.  One is the older one where: you cut a hole in the ice and, sometimes [the ice] is two to four feet thick; you hire a diver; he goes down, finds your long line and sticks a light underneath the ice; and then, you cut your hole [to harvest the mussels].  But, we’ve moved on somewhat and, using modern technology now,  we actually put GPS markers on the long lines and GPS receivers so that even through three or four feet of ice you can identify where your line is and then they just cut the hole.

Government support on many levels has been instrumental, I think, in building the mussel industry in PEI. 

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea [1:52]
We do have a long and productive history of working with the aquaculture association [in PEI] and that is a relationship we want to continue to build on as a federal government.  Your organization’s willingness to speak up on issues and importance to aquaculture helps provide a focus for the industry and enhances its reputation on the world stage. 

Linda Duncan [2:11]
The strength and the growth of the Island’s industry have been because of the research and development that has been done.

Call out:  The PEI aquaculture industry provides 1,165 full time, permanent jobs.
Good harbours and facilities that have been facilitated by DFO (Fisheries and Oceans Canada) and the provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the industry its self have all played a part of bringing the industry to where it is today.

Halibut PEI Inc. [2:36]

[music and image collage]

Jim Dunphy, President, Halibut PEI Inc.  [2:45]
One of the things that drew us to Victoria, PEI is the fact that they had salt water wells available and they had large lobster pounds. We thought the combination of those two would be ideal for us to get started and to see if this would work.  We’ve been there almost three years now and we’d like to think, for the most part, that we’ve been very successful, especially on the biological side, and that we could take what we are doing in Victoria and transfer our technology to any other lobster facility that had pounds and salt water available. 

We’ve dealt with various levels of government – the village, the province and the federal government and I’d have to say that we’ve been very encouraged by the response and by how much they’d like to try to help us if they can and in any way that they can.

Call out:  In 2009, PEI produced 20,365 tonnes of cultured fish and shellfish.

Aquaculture now, over 50% of the world’s seafood is produced in aquaculture operations and so we can stand on our own and make a good argument for how environmentally conscience we are and how sustainable we are and the fact of what we are doing is a good thing.

Linda Duncan, Executive Director, Discover Mussels [3:48]
I think it’s a fabulous product.  The start up of that [segment of the industry] has benefited greatly from having some great science in terms of actually using a closed containment environment to grow a finfish.  There has been wonderful support from the research and development side of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and also the provincial Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.  There is a demand for that product in the restaurant trade. 

Aquaculture products are going to feed more than 50% of the world in another year or two.  More and more, what is being recommended is to eat more fish.  The answer to eating more fish is aquaculture-based product.  The other thing that I really like about the halibut is that it has taken an existing, physical facility that was fallowed, or not being used, and actually being able to take it and use it.  That trade-off provides jobs in the area, but it also makes use of the capital investment.

The Malpeque Oyster [5:11]

[music and image collage of oysters]

Phyllis Carr, Owner, Carr’s Shellfish [5:18]
I think there is a little bit of confusion out there because there are so many names, and oysters coming from so many places, and consumers are not sure what they are getting sometimes.  And, maybe they are thinking they are getting an oyster that is a PEI oyster, but it’s not.  There has to be better communication with the consumers. 

[5:44] Malpeque oyster has always been the name for the PEI oyster.  Of course, now that people are doing their own, they are branding their own names, so they are many names out there and I think that people have to attach Prince Edward Island to the name so that people know they are getting the quality of oyster from our clean water.

[6:07] Well, in PEI, we have the nice clean water.  We are very lucky to have nice rivers and bays and our growing areas are really good for the oyster.  We have the right salinity level in our water and it’s fresh and clean.  The original way [of growing oysters] was, of course, on the bottom, they grow wild and naturally.  And now, there is more off-bottom culture, so people are growing them in the water column.  The quality seems to be improving with each year with each time they seem to work a little…better at it.  It seems to be working to benefit the industry, I’d say. 

[6:47] We have a restaurant and we work that with the people all the time.  If there is someone who comes in who has never tried an oyster, we always recommend trying it fresh on the half-shell first with nothing on it, just try it right from the fresh state.  But if they are really, really [hesitant, saying] “No, I can’t do that”, then we will suggest maybe having a baked oyster first as a Rockefeller or whatever flavour they enjoy.  Steamed oysters or fried oysters, there are so many varieties and ways of preparing them, and they are all really good [laughs].

[7:27] There was a lot to do with buyers growing the industry, but now we need to be right at the core – families working these industries – if we want to maintain an industry on Prince Edward Island and that is going to mean high quality water.  If you live in a community, you have to care about all of these things – the quality of water and the surroundings you live in.  If you want to make it your living, you have to work at that industry from start to finish and to bring out the product the market is asking for – a quality product.

Call-out:  The PEI Aquaculture industry was valued at $31 million in 2009. [8:09]

[8:04] With all the things that we’ve been doing, [such as] the [International PEI] Shellfish Festival and educating people have been the biggest things.  We have to let people know what we do, how we are doing it, and why we are getting this quality oyster at the end of the day.

[8:19] Well, what I always enjoy about an oyster, and I tell people this, you never know what is inside.  Every oyster has its own story.  When you open that oyster and pop the shell, as soon as I see the meat I’m like “Wow, this is a beautiful oyster.” [slurps oyster fresh from the half-shell].  Or, you know, maybe one had a bad day [laughs] and it’s not as great.  The majority are that beautiful, nice plump meat.  I love oysters! [laughs again].

Narrator [8:49]
The aquaculture sector of Prince Edward Island is an exciting and expanding industry.  In the past three decades, the sector has matured into an industry into full production and a landed value in excess of $30 million.  It’s made up of oysters, mussels and finfish.  Over the past number of years, numerous species have been evaluated as potential aquaculture species for Prince Edward Island.  These include scallops, quahogs, clams and halibut.  As we’ve seen, PEI has a bright future in aquaculture and the new life that it promises for many of our rural, coastal communities. [9:32]

[music]

Credits [9:39]

Thanks to (in order of appearance):

Linda Duncan, Executive Director, Discover Mussels

The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

Jim Dunphy, President, Halibut PEI

Phyllis Carr, Owner, Carr’s Shellfish

Photos courtesy of:
www.freedigitalphotos.net

www.publicdomainpictures.net

Statistics source:
Statistics Canada

Executive Producer
Mack Campbell

Producer
Perry Williams

Video Production Services provided by
Virtual Studios, Creative Digital Media
www.virtualstudios.pe.ca

[9:55] Canada workmark

[9:59] finished