Yarmouth County towns to grow economy ‘one oyster at a time’

Three communities in Southwestern Nova Scotia are looking to increase their presence int he oyster farming industry.

Tusket, Wedgeport and Pubnico are small seaside towns in the Municipality of the District of Argyle, where fishing and lobster have long been prominent industries.

But now they are turning to another salt water venture — using their warm waters and shelter from the winds to grow oysters.

“Inside those areas is nice warm water, a lot of phytoplankton, just the right amount of current, and a perfect recipe for oysters,” says Charlene LeBlanc, Community Development Officer for the Municipality of the District of Argyle.

LeBlanc says that the area already has five designated sites for oysters and is evaluating 19 additional tentative sites at the moment.

“We started this back in 2016 when one of our oyster farmers realized that his newest site was growing, the oysters were growing a lot faster than they were in the other site,” she explains.

The Municipality has a memorandum of understanding with the province to grow their “business park on the sea.”

LeBlanc says that although oyster farmers will still be required to lease the site from the province, the creation of an Aquaculture Development Area will mean the Municipality takes care of most of the red tape.

“We are doing the leg work, we're doing the bio-physical and the oceanographic data. We're selecting the sites,” she says. “We know the water the best, we know where this can work, we know where we're not in the way or lobster fishermen, and in front of somebody's yard.”

The numerous tests to far on the water quality have brought back very promising results.

“We started testing all around. It's just like Christmas every time the water data comes in,” adds LeBlanc.

LeBlanc says there are already interested farmers from New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Manitoba and Maine, among other places.

“It means a lot of jobs and who knows, maybe some day we'll be the oyster capital of the world,” she says.

Although creating the oyster growth sites will have to avoid recreational boating and lobster fishing gear, LeBlanc says there hasn't been much negative reaction from the community.

“Navigation Canada at the table with us and we're making sure that we're doing this right,” she explains. “We don't get much feedback and unlike the fin fish, oysters are really environmentally friendly.”

The site evaluators are still studying the effects of ice on the areas, as well as the potential for water warming up as oceans continue to see the effects of climate change.

“As far as the temperature. it is a concern. Our waters are warm and if they continue to warm we might have to move our oyster farms a little further down out of the shelter. ” says LeBlanc.

The 19 tentative sites are expected to be decided on by next winter according to LeBlanc.

“We're over the moon,” she says. “We're going to grow the economy one oyster at a time.”