Commercial whelk fishery opens in eastern Cape Breton

Cape Breton's seafood industry has expanded to include a small sea snail that's become a popular buffet item.

On Tuesday, an event at Louisbourg Seafoods processing plant ushered in the first commercial whelk fishery in waters along the island's eastern coast. 

The Louisbourg, N.S., company began experimenting with the harvest of whelk more than a decade ago. 

"We have a science team and they spend all their time looking at this, and basically developed a clear understanding of what the fishery was out there and how best to manage it," said Allan MacLean, Louisbourg Seafoods' senior operations manager.

The whelk fishery off eastern Cape Breton, in an area known as the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization Area 4Vs, was previously licensed only for exploratory harvesting to determine if stocks could sustain a commercially viable operation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said Tuesday in a news release.

Fishing began earlier this month, with Louisbourg Seafoods now harvesting the edible mollusc about 160 kilometres off Louisbourg along a sandy and muddied ocean floor.

The company says demand for whelk is high in Asian countries such as China, Japan and Vietnam, with local interest being developed across North America. 

"It's served in buffets and that seems to be where the biggest market is, is in the buffet market," said MacLean. 

"It's like a clam. It's a bit chewy. I love it.… It's just personal preference, but I find it extremely tasty."

MacLean says the company's commercial licence allows Louisbourg Seafoods to stay open for four additional months, meaning more work for about 70 employees at the plant.

Mike Kelloway, the MP for Cape Breton-Canso, says future growth of the market is being explored.

"The greatest stewards of this fishery are the fishers themselves, and they're going to give us hard data in terms of observation," Kelloway said following a tour of the whelk operation.

"Can we grow this? The goal is to grow. And the environment and a lot of other factors will determine how well we grow it."

This year's allowable catch of whelk along Cape Breton is 700 metric tonnes with fishing occurring between July and December.

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