Oysters are being cultivated in the province for the first time and they are officially available to eat.
Oysters farmed in Placentia Bay were taste tested at Mallard Cottage on Tuesday and were on the menu at Adelaide Oyster House in St. John’s.
The first oysters cultivated in Newfoundland and Labrador are being tasted today at Mallard Cottage and will be sold tonight at @AdelaideOyster.
They’re right from Placentia Bay. @VOCMNEWS pic.twitter.com/tTZzSwnKU3
— Victoria Battcock (@VicBattcockVOCM) December 10, 2019
After almost 10 years of trial and error according to Merasheen Oysters Farms, the oysters are ready to go worldwide – finally being placed on the market.
President and CEO Juan Roberts says they hope to bring the Canadian production of oysters up from the current 1.1 per cent. Currently this country is ranked seventh when it comes to oyster production.
The farm is currently located in Placentia Bay but Roberts says they hope that growth and demand will result in having to expand that farm. He says shopping local just got even easier for seafood lovers.
Roberts says there is a good reason why getting an oyster farm up and running took so long. He says when you start off anything new, you learn it by trial and error.
Some of the issues faced by fish harvesters in Newfoundland overlap with the issues faced by the new oyster farm – including water temperatures.
According to Roberts, it is important to know that learning from mistakes is helpful.
