Feature: Shellfish industry in Vancouver ready to expand

Nearly every day of the year, regardless of rain, snow or shine, Richard Hardy makes the trip out to check on one of his several oyster farms in Baynes Sound near the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island in the Province of British Columbia.

Shellfish represents his livelihood and lifestyle, as it does for many other shellfish farmers who tend the region's roughly 500 shores and open-sea shellfish farming plots, which cover about 3,500 hectares.

Hardy from Pentlatch Seafoods said Baynes Sound is really the home of the shellfish aquaculture industry.

"It's a 30-million dollar (24-million U.S. dollar) shellfish industry here in the province of B.C., of which just over 50 percent takes place right here in the Comox Valley and Baynes Sound area," Hardy told Xinhua on his boat on Tuesday.

In 2012, the B.C. shellfish industry produced nearly 9,000 tons of shellfish.

The farmers and shellfish processors in the area said that the demand for their oysters, clams, mussels and scallops has never been higher due to the huge global appetite for seafood and shellfish.

"The demand for our shellfish right now is we cannot keep up with the demand. Every oyster that we're growing right now is off to the market," he added.

The producers hope to expand the seafood market into Asia, but the shortage of oyster seed, the changing ocean environment and government red tape are preventing them from truly turning the region into a global exporting hub for their prized shellfish.

Hardy said most of his oysters were shipped to large U.S. cities on the Pacific coast, but access to large Asian markets, including China, would be very attractive.

"From a business perspective, you always want to be diverse. You don't want to have all your eggs in one basket," Hardy said.

However, expanding business and export is easier said than done. The association on behalf of the shellfish farmers says they need more space for farms and simpler trade paths to overseas markets.

The ocean, which is believed to be warmer and more acidic, is perhaps more tricky. The local scallop culturists have been hit the hardest, with reports of up to 95 percent death rates at some farms. Other shellfish farmers are reporting losses as well.

Roberta Stevenson, president of B.C. Shellfish Grower's Association , told Xinhua that they had seen all kinds of fish and changes here, because of which they had to learn to adapt to a warmer, different ocean than they had in the past. Thus, more researches are needed to create a more adaptable shellfish, Stevenson added. Endi