Smoked Oysters

Oyster farming is an ancient industry in China (Morton & Wong, 1975) and it is the world’s top producer of oysters (Godfrey, 2012). “Global oyster production of all species in 2018 was 6 million tonnes, with China producing around 85% of the total. Pacific oysters are the most important species.” (ASC, 2022)

Wild oysters are manually harvested by hand and are labour intensive and inefficient to produce on any significant scale. “Farmed oysters start life in a hatchery, where they are spawned and hatched in a controlled environment. Once they are big enough, they are moved to nursery tanks or ponds until they are large enough to be transferred to sea. A variety of different methods are used to ongrow oysters. Some oyster farmers use mesh bags laid on low trestles staked to the beach in the intertidal zone, some use bags, trays or cages suspended beneath longlines, and others place them directly on the seabed.” (ASC, 2022)

The method of “hanging strings of oysters from rafts in the surface waters of the sea” is the most common and successful method of production (Morton & Wong, 139). They are raised typically in estuaries near river deltas with silt their muddy intertidal flats and adjacent shallow bays and shores (Morton & Wong, 139 & 141) and farmed with hanging rope mariculture (Clover Leaf).

Oyster production is labor intensify. Harvesting requires a boat/s and crew to maintain and harvest the oyster beds. It involves hoisting the sea-suspended lines to the boat and separating the oysters from the lines. Taken to shore oysters are manually or with mechanization shucked from there shells for transport to the nearest market agent to be sold locally or for export.

Smoked oysters require smoking and subsequent treatment of sunflower seed oil as they are canned and readied for bulk transport to external markets.

From the proprietor family-owned oyster farm to the local buyer in China, to the bulk exporter who exports and ships to Clover Leaf for North American markets, who sells to a wholesale distributor in regional markets who provides the product to local retail food market providers (stores).

Clover Leaf smoked oysters are available “across Canada in almost every grocery store, and online through the links below.” (Clover Leaf) E.g. AMAZON.CA, WALMART.CA, PCEXPRESS.CA, METRO.CA, VOILA.CA, LONGOS.COM, SAVEONFOODS.COM, INSTACART.CA and GIANTTIGER.COM

Consumers world-wide are now more health conscious and fish/seafood product demand has been growing strongly (Essentia). Thus, there is a demand pull which means it is to the producers’ advantage as the market wants the product. The producers can not ask too much, or they will price themselves out of the market, but when there are a lot of consumers searching for the product then the producer can produce more and generally negotiate a better price. This is a basic supply/demand economics theory.

Some might have the view that labor is cheap in China and therefore there is capitalistic exploitation by western nations and corporate interests of that cheap labor. That is a socialistic view which is rooted in a bias favoring labor versus capital. However, in my view there is an imbalance because Canada has close to 14 times the coastline as China and four times more than the next longest coastline nation (Almon, 2022) and yet we are not among the top ten fish producing nations (Netizens, 2022). It seems to me the strength in having people and families working lays in the nations that produce and not with those who consume. China can effectively control the supply side of the market as the market leader has great strength in influencing the supply side of the economic equilibrium. So, to advocate the contrary that China is being exploited because of a lower cost of living there and cheaper labor is a bit misleading, and it is encouraging to see that family incomes and the quality of life continues to improve in nations like China (Song, 2021). It is also worth noting that China (known as a communist country) and their aggressive approach to the worlds oceans and its fish/seafood stocks is causing great global concern (Urbina, 2020).

Research suggests that China’s distant-water state owned fishing fleet, or those vessels that travel far from China’s coast (Gutierrez & Jobbins, 2018), puts the fleet at close to 17,000 vessels. In contrast, the United States’ distant water fishing fleet has fewer than 300 vessels. (Urbina)

“China is not only the world’s biggest seafood exporter, but the country’s population also accounts for more than a third of all fish consumption worldwide. Having depleted the seas close to home, the Chinese fishing fleet has been sailing farther afield in recent years to exploit the waters of other countries, including those in West Africa and Latin America, where enforcement tends to be weaker as local governments lack the resources or inclination to police their waters. Most Chinese distant-water ships are so large that they scoop up as many fish in one week as local boats from Senegal or Mexico might catch in a year.”

Thus, the monger here within the ‘tragedy of the commons’ appears to be not capitalism, but rather exploitive communism/socialism in a lets get the worlds share resource now for me, before others do (Hardin, 1968).

I recommend that Canada shift its national policy focus back to its fishery and look at taking a global lead in managing the worlds oceans and its vast resources, including species like oysters, all shellfish, fin fish, and sea vegetation for marketing – both wild and cultivated. To do this we need to do research to develop technologies to add to the efficiency of our comparative advantage of having so much coastline.

From a social responsibility and ecological sustainability perspective I note that oysters are one of the only Clover Leaf products that at 40% ASC certified are not yet 100% ASC certified, and while Clover Leaf per its website sets the goal of 100% ASC certification of its oysters by 2022, my recent purchase in September 2022 of the product is not marked as 100% ASC certified.

Seafood such as oysters and mussels are filters that attach to or near the bottom of a shallow seabed and absorb pollutants from it’s environ. They are also inclined when waters warm too much to potential present bacteria or disease when consumed. Thus, careful farming techniques, handling, transport, and storage is from a consumer perspective very important. Also, from an ecological perspective an oyster farm operation when and where established can tip the normal ecological balance when a heavy oyster population develops in the terrain and thus alter that marine composition (ASC).

It’s crucial for global environmental stewardship and consumer safety that Clover Leaf reach its 100% ASC certified status with its smoked oyster products by the end of 2022, which it has set as a goal. And mark its product package with this standard as a consumer advisory for responsible marketing as soon as possible.

Almon, Andrew. 15 Countries With The Longest Coastline. BasicPlanet.com. Jan. 31, 2022.

Aquaculture Stewardship Council ASC). Farming And Eating Oysters Responsibly. Accessed September 30, 2022 at https://www.asc-aqua.org/aquaculture-explained/how-asc-can-help-you-eat-seafood-responsibly/farming-and-eating-oysters-responsibly/

Clover Leaf. https://www.cloverleaf.ca/en/products/smoked-oysters/

Essentia Protein Solutions. https://essentiaproteins.com/na/trends-insights/posts/2021/september/steady-fish-and-seafood-consumption-the-norm-with-potential-for-growth/

Godrey, Mark. (2012). China’s Growing Appetite For Raw Oysters. Seafood Source. Accessed September 30, 2022 at https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/china-s-growing-appetite-for-raw-oysters

Gutierrez, Miren and Jobbins, Guy. China’s Distant Water Fishing fleet is more than five times larger than estimated – new ODI report. Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

Hardin, G. 1968. The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162(3859): 1243-1248.

Morton, B., & Wong, P. S. (1975). THE PACIFIC OYSTER INDUSTRY IN HONG KONG. Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 15, 139–149. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23881628

NetizensReport. Accessed Spetmeber 30, 2022 at https://netizensreport.com/these-are-the-largest-fish-producing-countries-in-the-world-2022/

Smith, M. D. (2016). Review of American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood, by P. Greenberg. Marine Resource Economics, 31(1), 117–119. https://doi.org/10.2307/44011884

Song, Candice. China’s Quality of Life — What It’s Like in China. China Highlights: Travel Guide. March 2, 2021. https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/living-standard.htm

Urbina, Ian. How China’s Expanding Fishing Fleet Is Depleting the World’s Oceans. Yale Environment 360. August 17, 2020.

Zulma, Cary. Top 10 Countries With Longest Coastlines. Earth & World. 2018.