By Jane E. Burton, InFocus Magazine, August, 2011

Oyster farmers seek environmental solutions to protect their children and an industry they love

Greg and Hollie Wood have seen a lot of changes in their 17 years working in the oyster industry in Baynes Sound. What started as summer jobs for both has turned into a partnership and business built on a common love for the industry, and the environment and region that sustains it.

Two years ago they launched their own production and distribution company, Hollie Wood Oysters, choosing that name because it was easy to remember and it made people smile. It is with that sort of cheerful spirit that this young couple approach life and their work. They take the same positive attitude with them when they engage in the debate about the pros and cons of the proposed Raven Coal Mine.

“I would love to make sure that there is something here for my kids,” says Hollie Wood, working their Baynes Sound oyster lease with husband Greg and daughters Roseanna (left) and Jasmine (right).

Greg and Hollie—both Islanders, he grew up in Bowser and she on Denman Island—met in 1994 while working at Fanny Bay Oysters for the summer. Hollie had been in the process of switching from studying engineering at the University of Victoria to Malaspina College where she wanted to pursue aquaculture or forest resource technology.

Hollie explains how that summer job helped her to decide her future: “When I started at Fanny Bay Oysters I was doing beach work then it turned into the nursery so I was learning how to grow the babies,” she says. “That is what my schooling was going to teach me, but I was already doing it so I thought I might as well stick with it. I was enjoying it.”

In 1996 they bought two small shellfish leases. “There was lots of work back then,” says Greg, 38. “As long as you were living and breathing you could easily get a job at Fanny Bay Oysters, they were so busy. So off we went to work and we just never left. We like where we live so it just seemed natural to stay and see where it goes. We bought our farm very early on. I think we were 20 years old when we started farming. At that point we continued to work for Fanny Bay and learned how to farm.”

They were able to buy two small parcels in an 11-acre lease through a co-op arrangement. With leases costing on average $30,000 an acre, buying the smaller 1.5 acre sections worked well on many levels says Greg: “It is actually much better because there are less taxes and everybody shares the expenses. You don’t need a lot of land to make a good living so it is a smart way to do it.”

“We grow smaller oysters and start them on the rafts,” says Greg. “Just the cycle and the way we manage it— we don’t let them grow on the beach very long. As soon as they’re ready they’re picked and more are brought down and then they’re picked, so it is a quicker cycle I think, so you just don’t need 10 acres to do that.”

Hollie and Greg work the oyster lease themselves, with Greg’s brother lending a hand if they get really busy. In addition to a couple of days a week working on either the beach or the raft farm locations, they make deliveries, take care of maintenance and tackle the paperwork. The Woods’ family life is busy, as their Fanny Bay household includes their two daughters, nine-year-old Jasmine and six-year-old Roseanna, as well as two cats and a gerbil.

According to Greg, there is no such thing as a typical day. “It is different every day because our life revolves around the tides. Sometimes it works really well to get the kids to school and sometimes that is when low tide is so we have to figure it out.”

Adds Hollie: “After I’ve coordinated the kids going to school and worked out the time of the tides, depending on the weather, I would decide if I’m going to go by boat to the beach or take the truck. I like to work on the beach; I let Greg focus more on the raft stuff. I would get down there two or three hours before low tide and I would be doing a bit of maintenance maybe before I gathered my oysters up into bags, counting and sizing. I’d organize that and then I might get a bit of maintenance in after that too.”

“The rafts are like our nurseries,” says Greg, explaining the process of growing the tiny hatchery-produced oyster seeds. “All of them start there, they grow really fast on the rafts but the shell isn’t very strong so when you put them on the beach they toughen up. We prefer to let nature harden the shells and the quality is very superior and they last longer in the fridge for the chefs.

“My job is to keep the growth under control because if you let it go it’s a nightmare,” he adds. “Especially on the rafts because they are in kind of oyster apartments underwater and there is only so much space in each tray. So if they fill up, which can happen in three weeks, I have to go out and take half out and put them in a different tray; or else you’ll become plugged with ugly oysters.”

They admit that breaking the ties with Fanny Bay Oysters and going solo with Hollie Wood Oysters was a scary and stressful thing to do, but, the last couple of years have gone well and they are meeting their business targets sooner than expected. They love where they live and the work they do. They enjoy interacting with their clients—mostly mid-Island restaurants—and developing products to meet their needs.

They grow two varieties of Pacific Oyster. “One is Zen, grown on the raft, and then Satori is the same size but grown on the beach. It is the same oyster but they taste very different. Then the next size up is called a Beaufort oyster, grown on the beach that overlooks the Beaufort Mountains. That same size grown on the raft we’ve called Glacier oysters for the Comox Glacier.”

To promote their products they have started hosting oyster-tasting opportunities in restaurants. “I love it,” says Hollie. “You get to talk with people and they’re asking all these questions. It’s amazing what people want to know. And, I always love introducing oysters to someone who has never had a raw one before. That’s always fun. But, yeah, that’s like our date night—Greg and I go out and serve oysters to people!”

Part of their business plan was to work with the 100-mile diet concept. They both express deep concern for the high level of CO2 emissions and the consequences for the planet their children will inherit if people everywhere don’t start to understand that emissions levels are too high and need to be reduced.

“We need to make changes now—yesterday,” says Hollie. “Maybe it has to be forced upon us to make those changes?

“My heart really is my kids, and my great-great-grandchildren,” she adds. “I would love to make sure that there is something here for them.”

They say ocean acidification levels are increasing and development continues to put more pressure on Baynes Sound. For many years Greg has been advocating to protect Baynes Sound by making it a marine conservation area. “The growers all know that between Union Bay and Deep Bay is a really magical pristine area and it’s shrinking every year. It used to go all the way out to Comox but the area isn’t clean there anymore.”

He points out that the conservation area would be in sync with renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle’s recent call for more ocean protection. Earle, who is currently an explorer in residence with the National Geographic Society, won the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) award in 2009. Award recipients receive $100,000 and the chance to state their wish to help change the world. Earle used the money to found Mission Blue and wished to ignite public support for a global network of marine protected areas.

“We can’t protect what is already gone” says Greg, “but we can protect what we see today, and if we protect them maybe they’ll thrive.”

He points to the recently opened Deep Bay Marine Field Station, the centrepiece of Vancouver Island University’s Centre for Shellfish Research, as an important reason to protect Baynes Sound. “With the Deep Bay Field Station that just opened the potential for creating jobs here is enormous—sustainable jobs. I just want to see that place given a chance. Give it a full opportunity to grow—give it 10 years and see what comes of it.”

A hot topic for those in the shellfish industry is the proposed Raven Coal Mine in Fanny Bay. The website for the mine promises that “the project team is committed to developing a project that is socially and environmentally responsible.”

The Project’s October 19, 2010 Fact Sheet states that “the proposed project will be designed and managed to protect shellfish, salmon and other aquatic species” and that “research indicates the project will not affect Baynes Sound.”

According to John Tapics, Compliance Energy CEO and Raven Project spokesperson, if studies indicate there could be impacts on the shellfish industry “then it will be up to us in our project design to provide environmental management plans and mine design that will eliminate, reduce or mitigate or manage those impacts.”

Hollie and Greg recently took a big step outside their comfort zone and made presentations at the June 7 Raven Coal Mine environmental assessment meeting in Union Bay. Greg put forward his concerns about CO2 emissions and the effects of climate change and suggested the creation of a conservation area in Baynes Sound. Hollie described her roots in the area, pointing out that her 17 years shellfish farming is longer than the 16 years the coal mine proposes to operate. She then asked a series of questions including this one: “Wanting a better environmental future for the generations to follow, is there any way the company can ‘change gears’ so to speak, and apply to have the claim changed for the purpose of doing something more environmentally sustainable?”

Hollie explains why she took this approach: “If I was in their shoes, I wouldn’t want someone to come and tell me, ‘No, you can’t do that anymore.’ But then again, times have changed and coal isn’t going to work today. Yeah, you might think that you need it, but as far as I’m concerned we all need to change our ways. So my thought was if the government and the company with that coal permit can change the permit to allow for something else, they would have first dibs on having that area to do something else with it that could generate them money. We want to see environmental sustainable energy. I thought we could put our minds together to think of something better.”

A few hours before making her presentation in Union Bay, Hollie was serving oysters as part of the local Shellfish Festival. Given the choice, she and Greg would choose growing and promoting oysters over public speaking any day. But for the sake of their children and the industry and region they love, they are speaking about their concerns and offering positive alternatives. Their respectful and constructive approach could be essential to bridging the differing visions of the Comox Valley’s future that the mine project is bringing forth.

For more informtion visit www.holliewoodoysters.com.

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