Oyster farm expanding to include cage exports

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An Ugpi’ganjig man is expanding his northern New Brunswick oyster-farming business to include the distribution of oyster cages it makes in-house for its own farm.

James Labillois, 56, is more than tripling the number of cages at his operation near Heron Island.

“We started out back in 2017 but the process took a few years to get going,” he said. “We got up to 120 cages last year but we’d like to see it grow to as many as 700.”

The cages he uses, which he makes at Heron Island First Nation Aquaculture at the Port of Dalhousie, float near the surface of the waters in the Baie des Chaleurs. But they have to be turned every so often so the tiny oyster egg can develop and any bacteria that might harm the developing delicacy can be washed away.

Each cage can each fit up to 1,200 oysters.

“It’s quite a process,” he said. “We have guys that take care of just that part of the operation and we’re hoping that by the summer, we have another four or five just at the oyster farm itself.”

Oysters can take upwards of a year or more to grow from the larva stage to adult-sized, edible mollusks.

“We sell them locally for sure but we also have commercial customers from around New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada – there aren’t a lot of oyster farms out there really.”

There are only about 10 or so oyster farms in New Brunswick, with his being the only one north of the Acadian Peninsula.

“We’ve come up with a new prototype just this spring that will hold just as many oysters but don’t need to be turned because water can run between each of the bags that the oysters grow in.”

The cages will be sold through a third-party to allow the company to simply manufacture and not deal with the distribution side of the business, he said.

He said on a good day his fabricators can make upwards of 20 cages, measuring three feet by six feet by seven inches. 

“We’re not getting rich but we have guys working and will be needing more so it’s going great right now,” said Labillois. “We have steady work and that’s what we want, but I know this is going to continue to grow.”