Hesquiaht looking forward to big geoduck harvest

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After years of planning and negotiating, the first juvenile geoducks were planted in Hesquiaht Harbour last month, marking the beginning of a unique and innovative business venture.

More than 2400 small geoducks were planted into the sandy sub-tidal zone with the hope that they'll be ready for harvesting in five years' time.

"This is not a formal production, but a test at this time," said Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council's central region biologist Josie Osbourne. "The Hesquiaht Fisheries crew will monitor the survival rate of these geoducks over the winter, and things will hopefully progress from there," she said.

Adult geoducks were taken from the Hesquiaht Harbour area in January and transported to Unique Seafood in Nanaimo, where they were spawned and the larvae were raised to juveniles.

The juveniles were then taken to Hesquiaht Harbour where they were planted into 12-inch deep and six-inch wide PVC pipe sections, and then covered with a net. The tubes planted into the sand should protect the geoducks from predators such as crabs, starfish, diving birds, and perhaps even sea otters.

The geoducks will stay in the tubes for two years before the PVC pipes are lifted out allowing them to grow in the sub-tidal sand for another three years before harvesting.

The 11-hectare area they are being grown in was removed from B.C. parks area for the project shortly after American geoduck grower Brian Phipps toured the site and called it "geoduck heaven." The area is now tenured to the Hesquiaht First Nation.

Many provincial representatives were on hand to help with the planting of the geoducks, including Al Martin, Dave Smith, Barron Carswell, and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Fisheries Gordon Macatee, who were treated to a dinner at Hesquiaht Hall the previous night.

A total of 4000 geoducks were planted in Hesquiaht Harbour by the end of August in the largest venture of its kind on the coast.

Over dinner, Chief Matlahoa (Domenic Andrews) and Lawrence Paul spoke on the history of the area, and the importance of shellfish to the Hesquiaht people.

Because of the cost of growing and transporting shellfish from Hesquiaht Harbour to Tofino, and a low selling price, clams and oysters were deemed economically unviable. Geoducks, on the other hand, can fetch close to $10 a pound, with an average geoduck weighing around two pounds.

After this winter's testing, Hesquiaht hopes to start planting more geoducks so annual harvesting can begin in 2007.

In the meantime, Hesquiaht will be looking for millions of dollars in project funding.