So here we are, still on Quadra Island and the winters here are very enjoyable. There’s quite a bit of rain and we had one week of snow, but the temperatures are relatively mild and whenever the sun comes out, we are off exploring! This clip shows us jumping into a canoe and paddling out to one of the neighboring islands to harvest some fresh seafood that would sell for top prices in any fancy restaurant: oysters!

The Pacific Oyster (Magallana gigas) is actually not really a native mollusc around here but was introduced to North America in the late 18th century. Today, it’s the most popular species and gets cultivated in oyster farms world-wide.

Natural oyster reefs, however, are on the decline which is mainly a consequence of water-pollution and over harvesting. Scientists estimate that a shocking 80-95% of all the natural oyster reefs we used to have worldwide just 100 years ago are GONE by now. Ecosystems suffer greatly from that development: for instance, the oysters usually filter and clean huge amounts of water every day. Luckily, there are a few great institutions that are trying to save and re-establish oyster reefs and general awareness about the issue is rising. We have even heard about some US non-environmentalists paying for the re-building of a reef as a storm protection. In Coastal BC, the Pacific Oyster still occurs quite abundantly. Nevertheless, we only took a few to try and left the rest of the reef untouched…

Oh and P.S.: If you still believe that oysters are an aphrodisiac – that’s nonsense.