Seafood Experts to Tour Island Shellfish Farms
Jan 24, 2011
(News Release) FANNY BAY, B.C. — Sponsored by Taylor Shellfish Farms and Fanny Bay Oysters, a group of international sustainable seafood experts will tour Vancouver Island shellfish farms on Jan. 29 as part of the SeaWeb Seafood Choices 2011 Seafood Summit pre-conference field experience, titled "Discovering Sustainable Seafood on Vancouver Island."
"Fanny Bay Oysters and Taylor Shellfish are pleased to be hosting the Seafood Summit tour of shellfish farms on Vancouver Island," says Bill Taylor of Taylor Shellfish and Fanny Bay Oysters. "It is a great opportunity to share the challenges we face as shellfish farmers, to show why farmed shellfish is probably the most sustainable of seafoods and especially to show off the delicious tastes of our incredible shellfish."
Touring by bus from Vancouver, participants will visit a shellfish hatchery, scallop farm, oyster farm, floating upwelling system, processing plants, and the brand new Vancouver Island University Deep Bay Marine Field Station. For lunch, the group will have the opportunity to try the locally famous Fanny Bay Inn Oyster Burger. An oyster and wine pairing by lantern light on the Burney Road oyster bed will precede the Field Station's inaugural culinary event, where acclaimed chef Xinh Dwelley of Xinh's Clam Oyster House in Shelton, Wash., and award-winning chefs from the Culinary Institute of Vancouver Island will prepare a feast of locally grown sustainable shellfish.
The day will also include a presentation on "Ocean Acidification and the Shellfish Industry" on the ferry by Dr. Richard Feely, senior scientist at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, a world authority on the subject.
"We're delighted that Fanny Bay Oysters and Taylor Shellfish are hosting the Vancouver Island shellfish field trip as it ties in perfectly with the summit's theme of 'Sustainability Without Borders' by following highly sustainable aquaculture practices from production to consumption, farm to plate," says Becky Marshall, director of North American programs for SeaWeb. "What participants will see and taste exemplifies many of the sustainability aspirations of the seafood industry."
Held this year in Vancouver from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, the annual Seafood Summit brings together all facets of the global sustainable seafood industry for a conference with the goal of making the seafood marketplace environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable.