Solar-powered platform and flip baskets put a modern spin on an ancient harvest

T’Sou-ke Nation, with its 70 hectare tenure and newly solar-powered work platform is looking to grow and modernize a tradition that has been a part of that ocean nation for millenia.

Shellfish harvesting has been a tradition among Indigenous peoples on Vancouver Island for thousands of years. For European settlers to the region, participation in a burgeoning oyster and clam fishing trade only increased to match market demands in the 1860s. 

According to Vancouver Island University reporting on the history of native Olympia and Pacific oysters, the first advertisement of oysters from Sooke, “constantly on hand” for the Phoenix Saloon appeared in 1861. A British Colonist newspaper article of 1862 reports how First Nations women from Cowichan, Sooke and Victoria Arm “monopolize the trade” and that they could earn up to $5 per day “hawking them [oysters] about town [Victoria].” That pay, says VIU, was roughly what a stone-cutter or blacksmith could earn in a day. 

Proprietor Henry E. Levy opened the Arcade Oyster Saloon in Victoria in 1864 at 1316 Government St. which ran successfully over two generations until closing its doors in 1906.

Oysters do a lot of good. Apart from their culinary value, oysters are an excellent source of protein and vitamin D. Oysters are filter feeders which means that they are one of the few animals that actually improve their environments as they grow. Critics of oyster farms say that the farming usually results in a net removal of nutrients from the water column and may also compete with other organisms for survival. Natural oyster reefs, on the other hand, are natural barriers against coastal erosion and storm surges. 

The humble oyster with its ridged shell and foot went from being a pedestrian staple of the Coast Salish Peoples to starring in dining rooms in hotels, pubs and restaurants around the world. 

As global demand grows and wild mollusc stocks dwindle, aquaculture is on the rise around the world. Shellfish aquaculture around Vancouver Island is more extensive than many might imagine. 

China is developing massive offshore aquaculture infrastructure at home and also making inroads in BC. According to data released in June by its Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China’s offshore aquaculture currently spans nearly 44 million cubic metres of water, yielding almost 400,000 tonnes of seafood, representing more than 20% of its national marine farming output.

In 2016, Chinese owners Xi Ping Ding and Zhiyi Chen launched Hummingbird Cove on the Sunshine Coast. The aquaculture endeavour was licensed to produce 23 species of seafood, including urchins, geoduck, sea cucumbers, scallops, oysters, clams and mussels, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

By 2020, Canada exported a total of US$19.2 million worth of oysters to the world, the top five of its markets being the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Vietnam. That year 84.9% of Canada's oyster export supply was shipped to the US. The main trade for these outfits is in Kumamoto oysters, Littleneck clams, Japanese scallops, and Pacific oysters. 

While most licensed aquaculture outfits and facilities in the province—there are 485—are found around Barkley and Bayne’s Sounds, a number of additional aquaculture farms have recently sprung up along the Island’s Westshore.  

T’Sou-ke First Nation is investing in the multi-million dollar market and economic development opportunity afforded by the humble mollusc. The Nation cultivates and harvests its most lucrative catch of Pacific oysters in Central Sooke Basin. Its tenure there has the capacity to grow up to 3.5 million oysters. 

Jeff Frank, advisor to the Nation, told the Westshore “We're only using a very small portion of our tenure right now and we'll build on it as we grow.”

In 2022, T'Sou-ke Nation received $390k from the federal government to help it acquire and install New Zealand produced FlipFarm equipment and to develop its operations. The innovative technology does precisely as the name suggests. It flips the animals in baskets that make for easier bio-fuel reduction, sorting, and processing for less people. 

“It works because we're protected from the ocean swells. But we still have enough wave action which is the driver for the quality of the oysters because the wave action keeps moving them around and allows for the shells,”  said Frank.

This wave-enhanced hardening of the shells helps to produces premium oyster products for domestic and international markets.

In yet another move that reflects its ongoing commitment to reducing its environmental impact and sustainability, T’Sou-ke First Nation’s TXIT Shellfish Company recently paired up with Colwood-based Shift Energy Group and converted its gasoline-powered work platform to solar power, after it received a federal grant from the Fisheries and Aquaculture Clean Technology Adoption Program. 

“Check back with us in three months,” said Frank, excited about growth and distribution developments he wasn’t yet at liberty to reveal.