Pacific Kiss - BC Oysters

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BC oyster growers ready for a very passionate February in Vancouver

Last Updated: Friday, January 29, 2010 2:28 pm EST

For Immediate Release - January 20, 2010

BC oyster growers ready for a very passionate February in Vancouver

It takes years to lovingly grow an oyster from seed and Yves Perreault of Little Wing Oysters in Desolation Sound and his fellow oyster farmers have spent the last two years seeding, thinning, turn-ing and tumbling oysters to produce a bumper crop in time for the Olympics. The British Co-lumbia Shellfish Growers Association (BCSGA) estimates that close to 2.5 million oysters are now ready to be harvested and, much to the delight of our international visitors, will be shipped to Vancouver next month to meet the anticipated record demand.

Since the time of the Romans and ancient Greeks, oysters have been synonymous with love, good luck and celebration amid gourmet feasts served to dignitaries and their guests. With the games, Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year all falling within days of each other in February, shellfish growers are very busy preparing to meet an unprecedented local demand.
British Columbia is Canada’s Oyster Capital. With miles and miles of pristine, cool, nutrient rich waters, Canada’s rugged west coast provides the optimal environment for growing world class oysters, which are shipped daily to meet the demands of international markets. Vancouverites love their oysters and as a coastal city with great raw oyster bars located in such close proximity to the oyster farms, Vancouver already has one of the highest per capita rates of oyster consump-tion in North America. Albion Fisheries expects strong sales during the Olympics as visitors from around the world will want to experience local delicacies and try locally sourced and farmed shellfish products.

Creating a perfect oyster takes time and is a labour intensive process with many growers tumbling their oysters to limit new growth to the length of the shell which increases the meat to shell ratio producing a succulent oyster in a nice deep cupped shell. Most British Columbia oysters are grown in and around Fanny Bay in the Baynes Sound area off the shores of the Comox Valley which is at the heart of shellfish aquaculture in BC.

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