Growers grappling with early winter

Ice conditions prompt oyster fishermen to take drastic measure

Mother Nature has dealt the Island’s shellfish industry a challenging fall.

Crews normally working on open water at this time of year have found themselves chopping through ice to tend gear.

“We’ve had a terrible fall,” said Shawn Cooke, president of the Island Oyster Growers Group.

While a lot of gear got cleaned up in the past week, Cooke said the situation looked really gloomy a week ago when a cold snap enveloped floating cages and marker buoys in ice.

“We didn’t know what was going to happen. It’s been a struggle.”

What ended up happening, he said, was growers, once they finished up on their own leases, went back out and helped others with theirs.

Nick Coughlin, who operates Cage Commander, supplying equipment and divers to help growers sink their gear for the winter, said the ice conditions only made the work more demanding.

“We were fighting five inches of ice (Saturday),” he noted.

With the ice moving anchors and corner buoys, new challenges have cropped up.

“There’s a lot of floating rope and stuff in the water; it’s just a mess.”

“This whole industry, it’s amazing what’s happening; the whole industry came together,” Coughlin said. “It’s been quite an experience to watch.”

Kenneth Arsenault, president of the P.E.I. Shellfish Association, said growers were already behind schedule because of the windy fall conditions.

“There were a few days we didn’t go out because it was blowing too hard and there were a couple of days when we shouldn’t have been out there.”

Despite the tremendous progress during tough conditions in the past week, Cooke said there could still be issues.

“When conditions are good, you hire a diver to come in and take your cage and properly set it on the bottom so that it is in the right position and then you’re not so apt to lose crop and stuff,” he explained.

He said some growers this fall simply pulled the plugs on their tanks to let them fill with water and sink on their own.

Arsenault, who finished up his own lease on Monday, said the wintry conditions created more work for growers. He indicated they don’t usually see such conditions until around Christmastime.