The K’ómoks First Nation has huge plans to get engaged in that but the Department of Fisheries and Oceans won’t hear anything of it.” We could show $10 million worth of product being grown just in Comox Valley region. "They complement each other because the market is insatiable. It’s like wild salmon doesn’t compete with aquaculture salmon. “They see it as competing, but we see the market as being insatiable. “Basically it’s protectionism of a wild fishery,” Ms Stevenson said. However, according to Ms Stevenson, DFO has been dragging its feet on issuing licences to shellfish growers. Two First Nations in BC – the Haida and the K’ómoks First Nations – have been pushing government to allow them to develop geoduck farms. “But here in British Columbia, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans will not allow us to farm geoducks,” she said.
Geoduck has become so valuable, in fact, that illegal poaching is now raising concerns about the geoduck population in Washington state.īC has a wild geoduck industry that is already worth about $47 million a year in sales – more valuable than oyster and clam farming ($33 million).īut it is exclusive to divers who hold licences for harvesting the giant clam in the wild.Īlaskan and Washington geoduck growers are cashing in on the growing demand, said Roberta Stevenson, executive director for the BC Shellfish Growers Association (BCSGA).
Geoduck (pronounced gooeyduck) has a landed value of about $10 to $11 per pound in North America and can sell for $30 per pound in China. In recent years, the demand for the giant clam – especially in China – has sent prices soaring. Salmon farming constitutes 89 per cent of total aquaculture sales, according to the BC Salmon Farmers Association, but shellfish growers say that BC is missing the boat in terms of new opportunities for geoduck farming, reports Business in Vancouver.
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