How Oysters Are Farmed: A Visit to Nova Harvest

 

From biosecure, top-notch microalgae cultivation to careful larval rearing to grow juvenile oysters with different systems, including FLUPSYs, this is Nova Harvest’s oyster hatchery.

They’re the local BC shellfish hatchery that produces oyster seeds for farms throughout the west coast of Vancouver Island, including their very own farm. This farm is in partnership with Huu-ay-aht First Nations Group of Businesses.

In this video, we’re exploring this vertically integrated oyster hatchery and farm, and its processes for oyster seed production.

Hatchery

By cultivating five species of microalgae, like Tisochrysis, Nova Harvest provides a diverse and nutritious diet for the shellfish at different life stages. This is achieved through the use of new algal production methods. Instead of continuous bags and fiberglass columns, they use seven photobioreactors or PBRs.

Nova Harvest’s experience with Industrial Plankton PBRs is 70 times more efficient in handling time compared to fiberglass column systems.

With the PBRs, this hatchery can produce continuous algae at higher densities, compared to a fraction of the density or quality achieved by traditional methods.

With an algae supply source secure, their larvae are reared in conical tanks with filtered and setrilized seawater. This is later fed with high quality cultured microalgae until they are ready to settle.

Nursery

Once larva settle onto a substrate, they are referred to at Spat. That is when they are transferred into Nova Harvest’s nursery systems. The silo upwellers and bottle upwellers on land where water is pumped up through the spat. This system ensures high flow and efficient feeding. When the spat are a little bit larger and more robust from the indoor nursery, they are gradually introduced to the natural marine environment in the FLUPSY systems until they reach a bigger size.

Farm

In the final stage, oysters are placed into Nova Harvest’s Flip Farm system. This is located along BC’s West Coast within the traditional territory of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations.

The next time you have an oyster in BC, it most likely started it’s life here, at Nova Harvest.