Introducing Prince Rupert: Scallop capital of the continent?

Coastal Shellfish, a First Nations-owned company, cracked open thescallop market this week with the first commercial sales from itsprocessing plant in PrinceRupert.

Those leading the burgeoning industry say they have high hopes the move will meana new economic opportunity for the city and theCoast Tsimshian people.

The company has already been selling scallop larvae to shellfish farms around North America but nowlive, adultscallops are available in Prince Rupert. The first buyer was Fukasaku, a local sushi restaurant.

"It's beenkind of a dream for coastal First Nations to establish an economy based on the ocean," Coastal ShellfishCEO MichaelUeharatold theCBC'sCarolina de Ryk.

"While this is a company, it's really about spawning an industry here."

Sustainable sales

Sustainablefarming is an important part of Coastal Shellfish's ethos.

An ethos made all the more significant because the need for a shellfishindustryin the city arose after over-fishingcrushed the local salmon processing industry.

In fact, the location where the company now farms scallopwas once a fish processing plant.

Gone are the fish scales, flashing knives and canning lines, instead the site is filled withhuge drums of pulsing, microscopic scallop larvae.

Hatchery managerProvan Crumpsays he feels pridenow that the sustainable farming process is making sales.

"We're in a really great state, we've got full scale productionwhich we're happy with, all of our filtration systems are working well and I feel very confident."

The global market

When the hatchery launched in 2011 there was a growing global demand for scallops andsupply was low.

The most recent datafrom the Food and Agriculture Organization of theUnited Nations shows that export demand isnow slowing as China increases its domestic production of the shellfish.