New Brunswick’s oyster exports grew 18.6 percent to $5.8 million in 2017 from the previous year, continuing the industry’s rally. Overall industry growth was at 57 percent over the past five years, measured in terms of oyster bags in water, which in 2017 was at 518,000.
The Canadian province aims to grow the industry by 10 percent annually over the next five years but says it has a problem: only one commercial hatchery serves the province’s 90 oyster farmers. Most of them depend on the wild seed supply collected from the wild, which an unsustainable practice….