Culture-Based Enhancement and Management of Soft Shell Clam (Mya arenaria) Beds in Western Nova Scotia

Summary:
To grow its business and insure its sustainability, Innovative Fishery Products Inc (IFP) has successfully integrated the harvest of clams from both the public fishery and from 1,682 hectares of managed clam beds. Beginning in 2009, in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, IFP has again broadened its direct investment in the clam fishery by $1.1 million to establish a clam hatchery and nursery. IFP will use this new facility to significantly boost production of soft shell clams from its leases in Saint Mary’s Bay and the Annapolis Basin. Past production from these leases has been limited by inconsistent and unreliable natural seeding; a problem soon to be resolved through planting of hatchery produced seed clams. The new facility is located adjacent to the company’s St. Bernard processing plant in order to recapture the energy and nutrients currently lost in its wastewater. The success of this new venture will be bolstered by rigorous, environmental studies patterned after those which characterized IFP’s management of hard clam production over the past 14 years.

The facility is one part of a larger soft shell clam development project by IFP and the federal and provincial departments. The objectives of this broader project also include:

• Provide IFP owners and staff with technical and financial expertise necessary to operate a clam hatchery and nursery
• Develop a detailed strategic plan to integrate the new activities with current clam depuration and processing business at IFP
• Expand IFP staff to include a shellfish hatchery biologist and a least two technical support persons
• Conduct a series of studies within the new facility and on field.

The strategic planning process, which included the initial feasibility study, has provided IFP owners with a solid working knowledge of the technical and financial aspects of hatchery & nursery operations for soft shell clams. The construction of a hatchery and nursery at IFP’s St. Bernard site represents a significant expansion of the company’s technical and process control capabilities. When fully operational, IFP’s hatchery & nursery will have an installed capacity of 30 million soft shell clam seed annually. IFP anticipates a ramping up to that level over the next 1 to 2 years. As a direct result of this new capacity, IFP fully anticipates a significant expansion of its soft shell clam harvesting and processing. Increased quantities of soft shell clams will further expand IFP’s export sales to the US. The proposed hatchery offers the potential to become a key infrastructure component to commercial expansion of other shellfish species such as native and European oysters, sea scallops, quahogs and bay scallops.

Green technology and environmental performance:

• Integration with the company’s depuration plant will result in the recapture of waste energy and food in plant outflows
• Minimal costs to access large volumes of wastewater
• Primary food source for nursery will be the food component of the wastewater
• The energy recapture aspects of this project will further enhance IFP’s optimization of environmental performance

Project Lead: Innovative Fishery Products Inc.

Total Project Cost: $667,827.75
           
DFO-AIMAP Contribution: $250,000

Other Financial Support:

• Recipient: Innovative Fishery Products Inc.
• Provincial Government: Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (NSDFA)

For more information please contact the regional coordinator.

Maritimes Region: Cindy.Webster@dfo-mpo.gc.ca