So…What’s an oyster farm doing in the tinned fish world?
For nearly 30 years, our mission at Island Creek has been to grow thriving coastal communities. There are times when we do this right in our own backyard and there are times when we scour the earth to find the best caviar or tinned seafood. Along these flavor quests, we’ve discovered two things - that there are more similarities between oysters and tinned fish than first glance suggests, and that not all tins are created equal.
Let’s back up
Tinning fish is a time-honored way of preserving seafood at peak freshness that has sustained families for generations; not only on the dinner table, but by providing a stable income to small coastal communities around Europe. At one time, tinned fish was even served to inmates in local prisons and was the main protein source for lower income families along remote coastlines. This history is reminiscent of the popularity of oysters here in the United States during the 19th century, when the abundance of wild oysters gave economic stability and affordable protein to working class families for decades until oyster stocks were depleted.
Enter…aquaculture!
As an oyster farm, we’re diehard evangelists of the benefits of responsible ocean farming. We see aquaculture as an integral part of our future global food system. With the ability to grow shellfish, we reduce the dependency on wild stocks, decrease the excess of nitrogen in our oceans, and create meaningful jobs in coastal communities. Everybody wins.
Canning offers a great opportunity for shellfish farmers to yield more from their crops and bring their product to market in a more sustainable downstream supply chain through shelf stable tins, which eliminate food waste and reduce carbon footprints by avoiding refrigeration and excessive transportation.
Something we discovered on our journey is that, like with all seafood, not all tins are created equal – origin, harvest method, oversight, and traceability are tantamount not only to quality but to sustainability.
Bienvenidos, Mariscadora!
This is why we chose to partner with Mariscadora on our first line of single-origin tinned shellfish. Operational since 1966, they employ a team of women shellfish harvesters (known as Mariscadoras) who hand-select the best shellfish to go into their tins. They use aquaculture techniques to grow mussels and scallops, which have allowed them to diversify from diminishing wild stocks.
